A/N-Don't kill me because I kind of skipped over the last swimming
lesson...it's not that pertinent to this story.. I'm sorry. And I'm very
sorry about the LONG wait.I got a bit disinterested in this for a while.
Chapter 5-Leaving Hogwarts
As I walked closer to the stairs, the voices got closer and closer. I groaned as they spotted me, hesitating there near the banister of the girl's staircase.
"Ron! Whatever are you doing?" called Parvati, poking Lavender in the ribs to stop her giggling.
"Oh...er...um..Just looking for Hermione. D'you happen to know where she might be?" I asked, looking at my feet.
"Well, of course we know where she is...in our room....But I don't think she wants visitors right now," Parvati said, looking and sounding more somber than usual.
"Why not?" I asked, looking worriedly up at them and feeling rather guilty.
"Well, I probably shouldn't tell you this," Parvati said, not sounding like she cared too much that she oughtn't tell me. "But she's crying."
"Let me up there," I said, trying to push past them and easily succeeding.
"But, Ron, you're not allowed up there! You could get in real trouble!" called Lavender after me.
"So?" I called back as I reached the fifth year's dormitory.
I tried to open the door but realized it was locked. I pounded on the door for a few minutes with no avail.
"Hermione? Hermione, let me in! It's me, Ron!" I called loudly.
I heard no response, so I kept on shouting. "Come on, Hermione, I know you're in there, Parvati and Lavender told me!"
I glanced over at them, to find them staring at me. As soon as I looked over, they pretended to be deep in conversation. I frowned and turned back to the closed door.
"Oh, come on, Hermione. Why won't you let me in? At least talk to me, c'mon," I called, pounding some more on the door.
"Well, fine, be that way," I called, leaning against the door. "I guess I can't tell you that I'm really sorry. And I don't care if you don't feel the same way, Hermione, but I will always feel something for you! I don't care if you tramp about with Krum, because I'll be there, watching, waiting. Just waiting for the day when you realize what a skank he is and tell me that I was right."
Just as I finished saying that and was about to congratulate myself for getting it out, the door burst open and I fell backwards into the room.
"Oof," I called out as I landed on the hard floor. When I opened my eyes, Hermione was standing directly above me with her hands on her hips. I saw no traces of any tears. "Fancy seeing you here." I said after a moment.
But all Hermione said was, "Move," as she found me in her way as she made to shut the door. As soon as the door was shut and locked and I was once more standing, Hermione finally said something about me, although it wasn't what I had been expecting. "That was your own fault, you know," she said as she sat on her bed. "You were leaning on the very same door that you were begging me to open."
"I don't give a damn," I said, furrowing my eyebrows. "Anyway, Hermione, what I came up here to do was to apologize."
As I said that, I saw Hermione's eyebrows go up in an expression of surprise. I supposed that I had never really apologized to her before, but I just laughed to myself and went on. "I didn't mean to insult you, but I was just worried about Harry and-" here came a big gulp of air because I was determined not to scaredy-cat out of what I was about to do-"Voldemort. I thought maybe there was some plot to kill Harry and you two were keeping it from me."
After a few moments of stony silence, Hermione spoke. "I knew you had been worried, but don't you know by now that we would never keep anything important from you? Even what we were keeping was just for a matter of time until Harry could get up the guts to tell you. And I don't care how much you know now, by the way, but you're getting nothing out of me. Harry needs to do this himself. But I wasn't mad because you insulted me, oh, no. If I got mad every time you insulted me, I would be in St. Mungo's by now! But no, it was merely your choice of words. But let's just forget it. We're all stressed. O.W.L.s start on Monday, after all."
After that, we lapsed into a few minutes of silence, each mulling over our thoughts and trying to think of what to say next.
"I meant what I said out in the hallway," I blurted, finally.
"What, that you wanted me to let you in?" Hermione asked, frowning.
"No! Well, I did want you to let me in. But that's not what I'm on about! When I said that-that I will always care for you, and the bit about Viktor Krum," I said urgently.
"You shouldn't be so mean to Viktor, you know. He's done nothing to you," Hermione said in her scolding voice.
"Oh, he has too. He's stolen my-er..I mean...Oh, bugger. I might as well say it. He stole you from me. That's why I have a problem with him," I said earnestly. "But really, I shouldn't feel that way. He was there first, and I-I should back off. So I-I'm going to go now. See you later."
But as I turned to the door, Hermione spoke suddenly. "How could you think that way? And after last night, too!"
"Because I thought you hated me after what happened earlier. I only thought that I'd say something because Lavender and Parvati had said you'd been crying," I said, not turning from the door.
"I didn't hate you after this morning," Hermione said, surprised. "I've never hated you. Not even in third year. I've been angry, yes, plenty of times, but I've never hated you."
"But that's about all you feel for me. You don't hate me, but you don't love me, either. We're friends. Always will be. The end," I said staunchly, looking down and away from any direction she might be in.
"Of course I don't hate you. And you're right, I don't love you-" Hermione started, but I cut in.
"Of course you don't. You love Krum. How silly of me to think that you, the smartest girl in our year, and me, the goofy tall redhead could ever be anything. I'll be going now," I said, reaching for the doorknob.
"No, Ron! Please. You didn't let me finish. I meant to say that I don't love you right now. I'm sixteen. I can't decide who the love of my life is right now. I have so much living before me. But I do know that right now, you are the only one in my thoughts. Just know that. And don't forget it. Of course we can be something. That's the only way for me to decide whom I want to be with for my entire life. I have to try it out. I don't know what the future brings, but for right now, Ron, I want you beside me for it. Please?" Hermione explained with a pleading expression on her face that I just turned around in time for.
"Now that-" I began harshly, but, unable to keep up the act, I grinned before I could help it. "Sounds wonderful."
"But please, Ron.not to ruin the moment, but..I..er..as a prefect, I can't be..well..you know..in public. So I would appreciate it if you could hold off until we were..er..alone?" Hermione said timidly.
"Oh, don't worry about that, ..Mione," I said with a tiny grin on my face.
I finally opened the door and ushered Hermione through it. Then I took her hand as we walked down the stairs.
Our last swimming lesson wasn't anything special, although we had to take O.W.L.s. I basically only remember the secret smiles that I shared with Hermione the entire time. I think that we had to swim across the lake and back to get the O.W.L.s. I'm pretty sure that I remember doing pretty darned well. Dumbledore, though, could have had something to do with that. He's always favored us Gryffindors. I think he himself was one, a very long time ago.
And then it came. The last day of our fifth year back at good old Hogwarts. Our trunks were packed, and our dorms were empty. The Leaving Feast was scrumptious, as usual. I believed that the house-elves had nearly outdone themselves. Hermione, however, didn't share my point of view.
"This is," I began, then swallowed my mouthful and went on, "the best Leaving Feast house-elves have made yet!"
"Ron, don't you think that they should be paid for the amount of work that must have gone into this? Just think, hours of work just for you to eat that bit of tripe. And then they're not even paid for it! I still think that I should do something about it. Maybe next year, when we come back, I'll ask Dumbledore if he'll talk to them. Don't you think that would be a good idea for E.L.F.?" Hermione asked, blabbering on about her precious elves.
"What does elf stand for now?" I asked, confused. She had changed the name at least three times in the past year. She couldn't find one to satisfy all that she wanted to say.
"It's not elf, it's E.L.F., and it stands for the 'Elvish Liberation Front'," Hermione said, annoyed. "We have now over 20 members!"
"That's wonderful, Hermione. Now, can we stop jabbering so I can finish my tripe?" I asked, truly wanting her to give the elves a rest. They didn't deserve all her annoyance for not taking the wages she herself was offering them now.
"Hmph," was all she had to say in return, turning her back on me.
"Oh, come on, Hermione. Don't be like that. It's the last day of school. Let's just give the elves a nice long summer break before we start hassling them about wages again, all right?" I said this all while taking her hand. I was pretty sure it wasn't my words, but my hand that made her drop it. But she finally smiled and relaxed. I can say that I was sure relieved. I didn't need a fight on the last day of school, I can tell you that right now.
Just as I was finishing up the tripe, the golden plates were filled with desserts. Oh, how I loved desserts. I took a little bit of everything and began chomping. As I ate, I observed Harry, who was across the table from me. He was sitting next to my sister, and they were talking about something or other. I examined the look on each of their faces. They looked happy enough. I supposed that I could allow them to do whatever, just so long as my sister didn't get hurt in any way, shape, or form. If she did, then Harry was in big trouble. No matter how good a friend he was, he would be a dead man after we were done with him.
As I was examining the couple, I realized that Hermione was staring at me. I could feel her eyes boring into the side of my head. I turned to see her smiling gently at me. I winked, grinned, and went back to my food.
Soon enough, the Feast was over, and it was time to get onto the horseless carriages that took us back to the Hogwarts Express, where our trunks were waiting.
As I got onto the Hogwarts Express, I looked back at the school. My eyes caught on the lake. I smiled fondly as I thought how the lessons that had taken place on that very lake had brought Hermione and me together.
Then I saw Harry, and I knew that no matter how happy I was, I couldn't let my thoughts dwell on happy things for too long. Voldemort was still out there, and he wouldn't go away unless we made him. I was part of the Light Side, and I could never forget that. Hermione and I were Harry's best friends, and we couldn't abandon him just because we were in a relationship. We had to stick together. And we would.
But for now, we could only wait. Wait and prepare for Voldemort's next attack. I would be a child as long as I possibly could. And that meant having fun with my friends on the Hogwarts Express. I climbed up the steps and went into our usual compartment. Hermione was already there, waiting. I sat next to her and pulled out my Exploding Snap cards.
Soon Harry joined us, along with Ginny. "Anyone for a game?" I asked, shuffling the cards very noticeably.
"No, I need to start my summer homework," said Hermione.
"Oh, come off it, Hermione. Summer hasn't even started yet. Relax. Let's do something fun on the last day that we'll see each other for a while. Please?" I wheedled, trying to convince her to play. She was much more fun away from her books.
"But--" she began, but as soon as I started on with my puppy-dog pout, she melted. "Oh, go on then." She set down her book bag and put her hands in her lap.
"Well...only for a little while. I'm kind of tired," Ginny said, albeit a bit sleepily.
"I'll play for a bit too, but I want a nap sometime on this trip, all right?" Harry said, sounding tired also.
"Suits me fine," I said, handing out cards. Soon we were snapping away. We wasted at least two hours at this, until Ginny fell asleep right on Harry's shoulder. That was when Harry quit and began reading a book on Quidditch. Soon, he was asleep too.
"Well, what to do now?" Hermione asked.
"I know what we could do," I said mischievously.
"Ron!" she whispered urgently. "No. No, no, and no. What else can we do?"
"Other than that, I dunno. I'm not tired, and besides, I'll get in plenty of sleep at home. I can do my homework later. Erm...we could play chess...the ride isn't that bumpy, is it? We'll just have to be careful," I said, already pulling out my board and pieces.
"Well...all right. But you can't be easy on me just because..well, you know," she said, pulling out her pieces too.
"Good," I said as I set up my pieces quickly, then grabbed hers from her hands, hardly even blushing at the contact, and put them out equally as fast. "But you do know that you have no chance anyway, right?"
"Hmph. I've been practicing. I have a chance. It's just not a very large one. So there," she said, sticking her nose in the air.
"We'll see about that," I said, making my move, since I was white.
"Yes, we will," she said, smirking and moving her pawn two spaces.
The game continued on, with me taking most of her pieces. She was left with, after about twenty minutes, her King, her Queen, a bishop, and a knight. The bishop and the knight I had felt compelled to leave her, since she had hardly any chance without them. It was obvious that she had been practicing, because she avoided my catching any pieces for a good ten minutes.
But, as was inevitable, I eventually got to her king. "Checkmate," I called rather softly as I commanded my knight to move in his 'L' shaped pattern to get to the king. The king threw his crown at my knight's feet and scowled up at Hermione. Her pieces didn't respect her very much, probably because they had never won yet.
"Someday I'll beat you," she muttered. "Someday..."
"Maybe that's so, but that day isn't today," I said, putting away my pieces and my board. "So I suppose you're going to do schoolwork now. Aren't you?"
Hermione nodded a yes, picking up her backpack once more. "I might as well. You're going to read a Quidditch book or sleep or do something equally as boring, aren't you?"
"Well, actually. I was going to do mine too. I might as well, while I have the smartest witch in our year here to help me, right?" I smiled serenely and pulled out my backpack from its hidden place underneath my seat.
"I didn't even know you brought that with you! You were going to do schoolwork this whole time and you didn't tell me?" Hermione said indignantly.
"Well...it's your own fault, you know. You're always telling me that I should, so I decided to try it. Plus, you've rubbed off on me a bit over the years, I think," I said with a fake grimace. "That's a scary thought."
"Oh, shush," Hermione said, throwing a balled up paper at me. Then she pulled out a History of Magic book and opened it. "I always do the least fun ones first. So if you want help, you'd better do the same thing I am, don't you think?"
"Perhaps," I said as I pulled out mine and opened it also. We wasted at least two hours doing our least favorite essays and reminiscing about times when Snape had been horrid. Since there were more than a few of that type of story, we ended up taking a while.
Sometime during our studying, Hermione had moved around to sit next to me. I realized what a compromising position this was, but as my face split into a yawn just seconds after, I couldn't do much about it at that time.
"Tired?" Hermione asked, her eyes drooping. She looked like I felt. Tired, for some odd reason.
"I guess. I think I'm going to just take a nap here against the window, all right?" I moved ever so slightly so that my head could rest against the window, and then I closed my eyes. I drifted off to sleep almost instantly.
Soon enough, my eyes popped open. Though it only felt like seconds, after I checked my watch, I realized that it had been at least an hour and a half since I had drifted off. I also soon realized that I couldn't move, as Hermione's head was resting in my lap, and her left arm was on my right leg.
I looked around the compartment and saw that Harry was awake, and he was staring at Hermione and I and giggling quietly to himself. "Harry, don't giggle," I said, rolling my eyes. "It makes you sound like a girl."
"Shut up," he said through his giggles. He then picked up the ball of paper that Hermione had thrown at me earlier and threw it at me again.
"Hey now," I said. "That's enough. I've already had that same ball of paper thrown at me twice today."
"And I care..why?" Harry asked, trying desperately to cover his giggles.
"Because I said so. Are we almost there?" I asked, checking my watch.
"I think it's about fifteen more minutes. Maybe we should wake the girls, since they're going to want to have a big sappy goodbye and that might take a while," Harry said, glancing at my hair, which was properly messed up.
I started stroking Hermione's hair, trying to think of a way to wake her up in which I wouldn't get my head yelled off. "Hermione..Psst, Hermione..wake up!" I whispered.
"Mmm?" came a voice from on my lap. "Is it time for classes already, Lavender?"
"Lavender?" I asked, looking at Harry. "I don't sound like Lavender, do I?"
"Well, now that you mention it, your voice isn't as low as mine. And Lavender is kind of tall.." Harry trailed off in laughter.
"Shut up, Harry. I could say that you look rather like Parvati, too, now couldn't I? The same black hair, and you both have green eyes.." I said, snickering at the thought of those two looking alike.
"Well, I personally think you look like Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. But that's just me," Hermione said, startling me. I looked down at my lap, and there she was, staring up at me. "Fancy seeing you here."
"I would say the same," I said, raising my eyebrows a few times. "I would have never guessed that Lavender wakes you up in the morning."
"Yes, well..sometimes..she does," Hermione said, rubbing her eyes. "Just because I'm punctual doesn't mean that I'm perfect."
"Could've fooled me," I said, smirking.
"That's not that hard to do," Hermione said, getting her own back.
"Thanks," I said, pushing her head off of my lap so that she was half on the floor.
"Same to you," Hermione said, pulling herself back up onto the seat and sitting properly up.
I turned back to Harry to see him tapping Ginny gently on the cheek. "Wake up, Gin. We're nearly there. Gin..Gin?"
Ginny's eyes flickered open and focused on Harry. "Are we there yet?" she mumbled.
"Nearly," Harry said, leaning away from her. "Better get our stuff together and say..goodbyes and stuff."
"Yeah," I echoed as I picked up the bit of homework that Hermione and I had done together off of the floor and put it in my book bag. Then I gathered the few other things that were laying about the compartment and put them by my bag.
The others did these things as well. When I sat back down, I realized that the train was pulling to a slow stop. "Well, guys..back to the Muggle world, eh? Anyone have one last spell?"
"Oh.." Hermione said, thinking a moment before pulling out her wand. "Accio!"
Before I even realized what was happening, I was flying at her. I held out my arms to break the fall that I was sure was going to happen, but Hermione just caught me. "Good lord, woman, you're strong!" I said, laughing along with the rest.
Then Harry pulled out his wand. "Hmm..if only Malfoy were here..or maybe Dudley..Oh well. Er..Expelliarmus!"
Ginny's wand went flying to Harry's outstretched hand, and she giggled. "Give me that," she said, taking her wand back and twirling it for a moment. An evil grin came over her face as she held her wand out. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
Harry went up so that he was floating near the ceiling. I laughed. He was trying desperately to get himself down. Finally Ginny let him down with a small thud. Harry's hair was more mussed than usual, and his face was rather red. In spite of himself, he grinned.
"My turn..oh..er.." I said, pulling out my wand as everyone else put his or hers away. Just then the train came to a complete stop. "Alohomora!" I called, and the door to our compartment flew open. I put my wand away and picked up my things. Another long summer of just my family was just around the corner. I sighed.
My friends and I walked off of the train and into the station together. Before we crossed the barrier into the Muggle world, I turned to Harry. "See you, mate. I'll write and ask you to come stay as soon as the Order says it's all right, OK?"
"Yeah, OK," he said.
"Oh, what the hell, wait a minute," I said, walking over to him and clapping him on the back. He grinned and clapped me too. Then he turned to Hermione.
"See you at Ron's?" he asked.
"I'm sure I will. Goodbye, Harry!" then she hugged him. He then turned to Ginny.
"Hey, Gin, why don't you walk Harry out there to make sure that those Muggles are there?" I asked meaningfully.
"Sure," she said, beginning to walk toward the barrier. Harry followed.
As soon as they were out of sight, I turned to Hermione. "So," I said.
"So."
"You'll come to stay?" I asked hopefully.
"Just owl me as to when," Hermione said sullenly.
"I won't forget, don't worry. Well..want to go out there?"
"I guess..my parents will worry if I don't," Hermione said with one of those weird grim smiles on her face.
So we began walking towards the barrier together, but very slowly. It seemed no time at all until we were facing a train station full of Muggles. I looked for a moment, and saw a gathering of redheads. That would be my family. Then a horn honked. That would be Hermione's parents. I turned to her once again. "Well..bye," I said.
"Oh..Ron!" she cried, turning to face me. She went way up on her tiptoes and I saw what she was about to do.
"I thought.." but I was cut off by her kiss.
"I changed my mind," she said. "Bye, Ron!" then she turned and walked towards her parents car, not looking back.
I just stared after her. This girl..this girl was not just some crush. She was my own.
A/N-Oh, YES!! Ha!! I'm finally finished with this chapter that took about two months to write!! Now there's just the epilogue left. And thank god, I know exactly what will happen there. Goodbye, my darlings!! Don't forget to review!!
Chapter 5-Leaving Hogwarts
As I walked closer to the stairs, the voices got closer and closer. I groaned as they spotted me, hesitating there near the banister of the girl's staircase.
"Ron! Whatever are you doing?" called Parvati, poking Lavender in the ribs to stop her giggling.
"Oh...er...um..Just looking for Hermione. D'you happen to know where she might be?" I asked, looking at my feet.
"Well, of course we know where she is...in our room....But I don't think she wants visitors right now," Parvati said, looking and sounding more somber than usual.
"Why not?" I asked, looking worriedly up at them and feeling rather guilty.
"Well, I probably shouldn't tell you this," Parvati said, not sounding like she cared too much that she oughtn't tell me. "But she's crying."
"Let me up there," I said, trying to push past them and easily succeeding.
"But, Ron, you're not allowed up there! You could get in real trouble!" called Lavender after me.
"So?" I called back as I reached the fifth year's dormitory.
I tried to open the door but realized it was locked. I pounded on the door for a few minutes with no avail.
"Hermione? Hermione, let me in! It's me, Ron!" I called loudly.
I heard no response, so I kept on shouting. "Come on, Hermione, I know you're in there, Parvati and Lavender told me!"
I glanced over at them, to find them staring at me. As soon as I looked over, they pretended to be deep in conversation. I frowned and turned back to the closed door.
"Oh, come on, Hermione. Why won't you let me in? At least talk to me, c'mon," I called, pounding some more on the door.
"Well, fine, be that way," I called, leaning against the door. "I guess I can't tell you that I'm really sorry. And I don't care if you don't feel the same way, Hermione, but I will always feel something for you! I don't care if you tramp about with Krum, because I'll be there, watching, waiting. Just waiting for the day when you realize what a skank he is and tell me that I was right."
Just as I finished saying that and was about to congratulate myself for getting it out, the door burst open and I fell backwards into the room.
"Oof," I called out as I landed on the hard floor. When I opened my eyes, Hermione was standing directly above me with her hands on her hips. I saw no traces of any tears. "Fancy seeing you here." I said after a moment.
But all Hermione said was, "Move," as she found me in her way as she made to shut the door. As soon as the door was shut and locked and I was once more standing, Hermione finally said something about me, although it wasn't what I had been expecting. "That was your own fault, you know," she said as she sat on her bed. "You were leaning on the very same door that you were begging me to open."
"I don't give a damn," I said, furrowing my eyebrows. "Anyway, Hermione, what I came up here to do was to apologize."
As I said that, I saw Hermione's eyebrows go up in an expression of surprise. I supposed that I had never really apologized to her before, but I just laughed to myself and went on. "I didn't mean to insult you, but I was just worried about Harry and-" here came a big gulp of air because I was determined not to scaredy-cat out of what I was about to do-"Voldemort. I thought maybe there was some plot to kill Harry and you two were keeping it from me."
After a few moments of stony silence, Hermione spoke. "I knew you had been worried, but don't you know by now that we would never keep anything important from you? Even what we were keeping was just for a matter of time until Harry could get up the guts to tell you. And I don't care how much you know now, by the way, but you're getting nothing out of me. Harry needs to do this himself. But I wasn't mad because you insulted me, oh, no. If I got mad every time you insulted me, I would be in St. Mungo's by now! But no, it was merely your choice of words. But let's just forget it. We're all stressed. O.W.L.s start on Monday, after all."
After that, we lapsed into a few minutes of silence, each mulling over our thoughts and trying to think of what to say next.
"I meant what I said out in the hallway," I blurted, finally.
"What, that you wanted me to let you in?" Hermione asked, frowning.
"No! Well, I did want you to let me in. But that's not what I'm on about! When I said that-that I will always care for you, and the bit about Viktor Krum," I said urgently.
"You shouldn't be so mean to Viktor, you know. He's done nothing to you," Hermione said in her scolding voice.
"Oh, he has too. He's stolen my-er..I mean...Oh, bugger. I might as well say it. He stole you from me. That's why I have a problem with him," I said earnestly. "But really, I shouldn't feel that way. He was there first, and I-I should back off. So I-I'm going to go now. See you later."
But as I turned to the door, Hermione spoke suddenly. "How could you think that way? And after last night, too!"
"Because I thought you hated me after what happened earlier. I only thought that I'd say something because Lavender and Parvati had said you'd been crying," I said, not turning from the door.
"I didn't hate you after this morning," Hermione said, surprised. "I've never hated you. Not even in third year. I've been angry, yes, plenty of times, but I've never hated you."
"But that's about all you feel for me. You don't hate me, but you don't love me, either. We're friends. Always will be. The end," I said staunchly, looking down and away from any direction she might be in.
"Of course I don't hate you. And you're right, I don't love you-" Hermione started, but I cut in.
"Of course you don't. You love Krum. How silly of me to think that you, the smartest girl in our year, and me, the goofy tall redhead could ever be anything. I'll be going now," I said, reaching for the doorknob.
"No, Ron! Please. You didn't let me finish. I meant to say that I don't love you right now. I'm sixteen. I can't decide who the love of my life is right now. I have so much living before me. But I do know that right now, you are the only one in my thoughts. Just know that. And don't forget it. Of course we can be something. That's the only way for me to decide whom I want to be with for my entire life. I have to try it out. I don't know what the future brings, but for right now, Ron, I want you beside me for it. Please?" Hermione explained with a pleading expression on her face that I just turned around in time for.
"Now that-" I began harshly, but, unable to keep up the act, I grinned before I could help it. "Sounds wonderful."
"But please, Ron.not to ruin the moment, but..I..er..as a prefect, I can't be..well..you know..in public. So I would appreciate it if you could hold off until we were..er..alone?" Hermione said timidly.
"Oh, don't worry about that, ..Mione," I said with a tiny grin on my face.
I finally opened the door and ushered Hermione through it. Then I took her hand as we walked down the stairs.
Our last swimming lesson wasn't anything special, although we had to take O.W.L.s. I basically only remember the secret smiles that I shared with Hermione the entire time. I think that we had to swim across the lake and back to get the O.W.L.s. I'm pretty sure that I remember doing pretty darned well. Dumbledore, though, could have had something to do with that. He's always favored us Gryffindors. I think he himself was one, a very long time ago.
And then it came. The last day of our fifth year back at good old Hogwarts. Our trunks were packed, and our dorms were empty. The Leaving Feast was scrumptious, as usual. I believed that the house-elves had nearly outdone themselves. Hermione, however, didn't share my point of view.
"This is," I began, then swallowed my mouthful and went on, "the best Leaving Feast house-elves have made yet!"
"Ron, don't you think that they should be paid for the amount of work that must have gone into this? Just think, hours of work just for you to eat that bit of tripe. And then they're not even paid for it! I still think that I should do something about it. Maybe next year, when we come back, I'll ask Dumbledore if he'll talk to them. Don't you think that would be a good idea for E.L.F.?" Hermione asked, blabbering on about her precious elves.
"What does elf stand for now?" I asked, confused. She had changed the name at least three times in the past year. She couldn't find one to satisfy all that she wanted to say.
"It's not elf, it's E.L.F., and it stands for the 'Elvish Liberation Front'," Hermione said, annoyed. "We have now over 20 members!"
"That's wonderful, Hermione. Now, can we stop jabbering so I can finish my tripe?" I asked, truly wanting her to give the elves a rest. They didn't deserve all her annoyance for not taking the wages she herself was offering them now.
"Hmph," was all she had to say in return, turning her back on me.
"Oh, come on, Hermione. Don't be like that. It's the last day of school. Let's just give the elves a nice long summer break before we start hassling them about wages again, all right?" I said this all while taking her hand. I was pretty sure it wasn't my words, but my hand that made her drop it. But she finally smiled and relaxed. I can say that I was sure relieved. I didn't need a fight on the last day of school, I can tell you that right now.
Just as I was finishing up the tripe, the golden plates were filled with desserts. Oh, how I loved desserts. I took a little bit of everything and began chomping. As I ate, I observed Harry, who was across the table from me. He was sitting next to my sister, and they were talking about something or other. I examined the look on each of their faces. They looked happy enough. I supposed that I could allow them to do whatever, just so long as my sister didn't get hurt in any way, shape, or form. If she did, then Harry was in big trouble. No matter how good a friend he was, he would be a dead man after we were done with him.
As I was examining the couple, I realized that Hermione was staring at me. I could feel her eyes boring into the side of my head. I turned to see her smiling gently at me. I winked, grinned, and went back to my food.
Soon enough, the Feast was over, and it was time to get onto the horseless carriages that took us back to the Hogwarts Express, where our trunks were waiting.
As I got onto the Hogwarts Express, I looked back at the school. My eyes caught on the lake. I smiled fondly as I thought how the lessons that had taken place on that very lake had brought Hermione and me together.
Then I saw Harry, and I knew that no matter how happy I was, I couldn't let my thoughts dwell on happy things for too long. Voldemort was still out there, and he wouldn't go away unless we made him. I was part of the Light Side, and I could never forget that. Hermione and I were Harry's best friends, and we couldn't abandon him just because we were in a relationship. We had to stick together. And we would.
But for now, we could only wait. Wait and prepare for Voldemort's next attack. I would be a child as long as I possibly could. And that meant having fun with my friends on the Hogwarts Express. I climbed up the steps and went into our usual compartment. Hermione was already there, waiting. I sat next to her and pulled out my Exploding Snap cards.
Soon Harry joined us, along with Ginny. "Anyone for a game?" I asked, shuffling the cards very noticeably.
"No, I need to start my summer homework," said Hermione.
"Oh, come off it, Hermione. Summer hasn't even started yet. Relax. Let's do something fun on the last day that we'll see each other for a while. Please?" I wheedled, trying to convince her to play. She was much more fun away from her books.
"But--" she began, but as soon as I started on with my puppy-dog pout, she melted. "Oh, go on then." She set down her book bag and put her hands in her lap.
"Well...only for a little while. I'm kind of tired," Ginny said, albeit a bit sleepily.
"I'll play for a bit too, but I want a nap sometime on this trip, all right?" Harry said, sounding tired also.
"Suits me fine," I said, handing out cards. Soon we were snapping away. We wasted at least two hours at this, until Ginny fell asleep right on Harry's shoulder. That was when Harry quit and began reading a book on Quidditch. Soon, he was asleep too.
"Well, what to do now?" Hermione asked.
"I know what we could do," I said mischievously.
"Ron!" she whispered urgently. "No. No, no, and no. What else can we do?"
"Other than that, I dunno. I'm not tired, and besides, I'll get in plenty of sleep at home. I can do my homework later. Erm...we could play chess...the ride isn't that bumpy, is it? We'll just have to be careful," I said, already pulling out my board and pieces.
"Well...all right. But you can't be easy on me just because..well, you know," she said, pulling out her pieces too.
"Good," I said as I set up my pieces quickly, then grabbed hers from her hands, hardly even blushing at the contact, and put them out equally as fast. "But you do know that you have no chance anyway, right?"
"Hmph. I've been practicing. I have a chance. It's just not a very large one. So there," she said, sticking her nose in the air.
"We'll see about that," I said, making my move, since I was white.
"Yes, we will," she said, smirking and moving her pawn two spaces.
The game continued on, with me taking most of her pieces. She was left with, after about twenty minutes, her King, her Queen, a bishop, and a knight. The bishop and the knight I had felt compelled to leave her, since she had hardly any chance without them. It was obvious that she had been practicing, because she avoided my catching any pieces for a good ten minutes.
But, as was inevitable, I eventually got to her king. "Checkmate," I called rather softly as I commanded my knight to move in his 'L' shaped pattern to get to the king. The king threw his crown at my knight's feet and scowled up at Hermione. Her pieces didn't respect her very much, probably because they had never won yet.
"Someday I'll beat you," she muttered. "Someday..."
"Maybe that's so, but that day isn't today," I said, putting away my pieces and my board. "So I suppose you're going to do schoolwork now. Aren't you?"
Hermione nodded a yes, picking up her backpack once more. "I might as well. You're going to read a Quidditch book or sleep or do something equally as boring, aren't you?"
"Well, actually. I was going to do mine too. I might as well, while I have the smartest witch in our year here to help me, right?" I smiled serenely and pulled out my backpack from its hidden place underneath my seat.
"I didn't even know you brought that with you! You were going to do schoolwork this whole time and you didn't tell me?" Hermione said indignantly.
"Well...it's your own fault, you know. You're always telling me that I should, so I decided to try it. Plus, you've rubbed off on me a bit over the years, I think," I said with a fake grimace. "That's a scary thought."
"Oh, shush," Hermione said, throwing a balled up paper at me. Then she pulled out a History of Magic book and opened it. "I always do the least fun ones first. So if you want help, you'd better do the same thing I am, don't you think?"
"Perhaps," I said as I pulled out mine and opened it also. We wasted at least two hours doing our least favorite essays and reminiscing about times when Snape had been horrid. Since there were more than a few of that type of story, we ended up taking a while.
Sometime during our studying, Hermione had moved around to sit next to me. I realized what a compromising position this was, but as my face split into a yawn just seconds after, I couldn't do much about it at that time.
"Tired?" Hermione asked, her eyes drooping. She looked like I felt. Tired, for some odd reason.
"I guess. I think I'm going to just take a nap here against the window, all right?" I moved ever so slightly so that my head could rest against the window, and then I closed my eyes. I drifted off to sleep almost instantly.
Soon enough, my eyes popped open. Though it only felt like seconds, after I checked my watch, I realized that it had been at least an hour and a half since I had drifted off. I also soon realized that I couldn't move, as Hermione's head was resting in my lap, and her left arm was on my right leg.
I looked around the compartment and saw that Harry was awake, and he was staring at Hermione and I and giggling quietly to himself. "Harry, don't giggle," I said, rolling my eyes. "It makes you sound like a girl."
"Shut up," he said through his giggles. He then picked up the ball of paper that Hermione had thrown at me earlier and threw it at me again.
"Hey now," I said. "That's enough. I've already had that same ball of paper thrown at me twice today."
"And I care..why?" Harry asked, trying desperately to cover his giggles.
"Because I said so. Are we almost there?" I asked, checking my watch.
"I think it's about fifteen more minutes. Maybe we should wake the girls, since they're going to want to have a big sappy goodbye and that might take a while," Harry said, glancing at my hair, which was properly messed up.
I started stroking Hermione's hair, trying to think of a way to wake her up in which I wouldn't get my head yelled off. "Hermione..Psst, Hermione..wake up!" I whispered.
"Mmm?" came a voice from on my lap. "Is it time for classes already, Lavender?"
"Lavender?" I asked, looking at Harry. "I don't sound like Lavender, do I?"
"Well, now that you mention it, your voice isn't as low as mine. And Lavender is kind of tall.." Harry trailed off in laughter.
"Shut up, Harry. I could say that you look rather like Parvati, too, now couldn't I? The same black hair, and you both have green eyes.." I said, snickering at the thought of those two looking alike.
"Well, I personally think you look like Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. But that's just me," Hermione said, startling me. I looked down at my lap, and there she was, staring up at me. "Fancy seeing you here."
"I would say the same," I said, raising my eyebrows a few times. "I would have never guessed that Lavender wakes you up in the morning."
"Yes, well..sometimes..she does," Hermione said, rubbing her eyes. "Just because I'm punctual doesn't mean that I'm perfect."
"Could've fooled me," I said, smirking.
"That's not that hard to do," Hermione said, getting her own back.
"Thanks," I said, pushing her head off of my lap so that she was half on the floor.
"Same to you," Hermione said, pulling herself back up onto the seat and sitting properly up.
I turned back to Harry to see him tapping Ginny gently on the cheek. "Wake up, Gin. We're nearly there. Gin..Gin?"
Ginny's eyes flickered open and focused on Harry. "Are we there yet?" she mumbled.
"Nearly," Harry said, leaning away from her. "Better get our stuff together and say..goodbyes and stuff."
"Yeah," I echoed as I picked up the bit of homework that Hermione and I had done together off of the floor and put it in my book bag. Then I gathered the few other things that were laying about the compartment and put them by my bag.
The others did these things as well. When I sat back down, I realized that the train was pulling to a slow stop. "Well, guys..back to the Muggle world, eh? Anyone have one last spell?"
"Oh.." Hermione said, thinking a moment before pulling out her wand. "Accio!"
Before I even realized what was happening, I was flying at her. I held out my arms to break the fall that I was sure was going to happen, but Hermione just caught me. "Good lord, woman, you're strong!" I said, laughing along with the rest.
Then Harry pulled out his wand. "Hmm..if only Malfoy were here..or maybe Dudley..Oh well. Er..Expelliarmus!"
Ginny's wand went flying to Harry's outstretched hand, and she giggled. "Give me that," she said, taking her wand back and twirling it for a moment. An evil grin came over her face as she held her wand out. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
Harry went up so that he was floating near the ceiling. I laughed. He was trying desperately to get himself down. Finally Ginny let him down with a small thud. Harry's hair was more mussed than usual, and his face was rather red. In spite of himself, he grinned.
"My turn..oh..er.." I said, pulling out my wand as everyone else put his or hers away. Just then the train came to a complete stop. "Alohomora!" I called, and the door to our compartment flew open. I put my wand away and picked up my things. Another long summer of just my family was just around the corner. I sighed.
My friends and I walked off of the train and into the station together. Before we crossed the barrier into the Muggle world, I turned to Harry. "See you, mate. I'll write and ask you to come stay as soon as the Order says it's all right, OK?"
"Yeah, OK," he said.
"Oh, what the hell, wait a minute," I said, walking over to him and clapping him on the back. He grinned and clapped me too. Then he turned to Hermione.
"See you at Ron's?" he asked.
"I'm sure I will. Goodbye, Harry!" then she hugged him. He then turned to Ginny.
"Hey, Gin, why don't you walk Harry out there to make sure that those Muggles are there?" I asked meaningfully.
"Sure," she said, beginning to walk toward the barrier. Harry followed.
As soon as they were out of sight, I turned to Hermione. "So," I said.
"So."
"You'll come to stay?" I asked hopefully.
"Just owl me as to when," Hermione said sullenly.
"I won't forget, don't worry. Well..want to go out there?"
"I guess..my parents will worry if I don't," Hermione said with one of those weird grim smiles on her face.
So we began walking towards the barrier together, but very slowly. It seemed no time at all until we were facing a train station full of Muggles. I looked for a moment, and saw a gathering of redheads. That would be my family. Then a horn honked. That would be Hermione's parents. I turned to her once again. "Well..bye," I said.
"Oh..Ron!" she cried, turning to face me. She went way up on her tiptoes and I saw what she was about to do.
"I thought.." but I was cut off by her kiss.
"I changed my mind," she said. "Bye, Ron!" then she turned and walked towards her parents car, not looking back.
I just stared after her. This girl..this girl was not just some crush. She was my own.
A/N-Oh, YES!! Ha!! I'm finally finished with this chapter that took about two months to write!! Now there's just the epilogue left. And thank god, I know exactly what will happen there. Goodbye, my darlings!! Don't forget to review!!