Disclaimer: See, if I had had control of Harry Potter from the start, it probably would have turned into some sappy romance involving either him and Ginny, Ron and Hermione, Draco and Myrtle, or Padfoot and some random poodle. Maybe it's better JKR controls it.
Ron drained the rest of his butterbeer and put his head on the table. Ginny was really too shocked to say anything.
"I'm an idiot," Ron told the table.
The table didn't respond.
"What am I going to do? I just ruined my relationship with the woman I love!"
"You could try talking to her," said a voice behind him. Ron's face instantly went white.
"Hermione," he tried to say, though it came out as no more than a whisper. He tried again. "Hermione. Er…"
"Ginny, would you excuse us, please?" Hermione asked. Ginny nodded and got up. "We need to talk, Ron," she said, once she had taken Ginny's vacated seat.
"Yes, I imagine we do." Why wouldn't Ron's voice work?
"Listen, I'm not angry about you running off," Hermione said. "I was about to do the same myself."
That didn't make Ron feel a whole lot better. "I'm sorry," he said.
"Don't be."
"But I am! I feel like… like I've ruined everything!" Ron exclaimed.
"One of us would have anyway," Hermione said quietly.
"What?"
"Don't you get it, Ron? You didn't trick me into kissing you, you didn't force me to kiss you, I kissed you because I chose to, Ron. I kissed you because I love you."
She… loves me… Ron thought, and that was the only thought in his head before he passed out.
~*~
Ron woke up a few minutes later, facedown on the table. Ah, table. We meet again, he thought wryly.
"Ron? Are you alright?" Hermione asked when Ron showed signs of being alive.
"Yes, but I had this wonderful dream in which you loved me and I was talking to a table… oh." He realised Hermione really did love him and he really had been talking to a piece of furniture.
"Yeah."
They were silent for a few moments. Then Ron asked, "So, where exactly do we go from here?"
"I don't know. I've never done this before."
Ron had the urge to say "Not even with Vicky?" but held back. Instead, he said, "Neither have I."
There was more silence for a little bit, then Ron said, "Can I buy you lunch?"
Hermione laughed, not at Ron but at the situation, and smiled. "Of course."
~*~
Ron proved to be quite the gentleman. He paid for her meal, her drinks, as well as the bag that she'd come to get in the first place. True, by the end of the day he was broke, but he didn't care.
"I've had fun today, Ron," Hermione said. Ron echoed her sentiment. "But to be honest, I still don't know what came over me this morning."
"I think I might," a strong voice said from behind Ron. He turned around to see Angelina holding Fred and George by the ear. She threw them into separate chairs and pointed her wand threateningly. "Talk."
Fred and George looked from each other to Ron and Hermione. "Fine, but promise not to kill us."
"Don't expect anything in writing," Angelina countered. "Speak."
Fred sighed. "We put Besarus Potion on the cushions. Anyone in love who sat there wouldn't be able to keep their hands off each other."
"But Hermione and I sat there last night, and nothing happened until this morning," said Ron.
"We'd taken that potion yesterday morning, it protected us," said Hermione. "But this morning, we didn't have anything." Then, after she had analysed what had happened, it registered in her heart. "So that kiss, and this whole day… it was a mistake." Before Ron could say anything, she ran out of the Three Broomsticks.
"Hermione!" Ron called after her, but she was already gone. He turned his attention to his brothers. "You idiots! What were you thinking?!"
Both Fred and George had been the recipients of Ron's anger before, but never like this. They looked as if they would rather shag Lord Voldemort himself than sit where they were sitting. "We figured that, since it wouldn't affect anyone that wasn't in love anyway…" He trailed off under the furious glare of Ron.
"I should kill you," said Ron, shaking with rage. "But that would be too easy. I'm going to do far worse." He pulled out his wand and leveled it at his brothers, who flinched and closed their eyes. "Erectus Duo Corpi!"
The twins instantly straightened and flailed their arms frantically. If they weren't scared for their lives, they would find it quite funny. Ron cleared his throat and put his wand away. "I'm telling Mum."
The fear Fred and George had felt before paled in comparison to their fear right then. Their words tangled in their mouths as they tried to beg Ron not to tell their mother, but he was already headed out the door.
He saw Hermione leaning against the wall of a nearby building. Her head was hidden in her knees, and her shoulders were shaking. She was crying.
Ron never knew exactly what to do when women were crying, especially not now. However, instinct overrode indecision and he ran to her side. "Hermione, please don't cry," he said as comfortingly as he could.
"Why not? This whole thing… us… we're a mistake!" she sobbed, not even lifting her head.
"Hermione, you're smarter than that."
"What?" she said, lifting her head.
"You know how the Besarus Potion works," he told her, wiping her tears with his sleeve. "It wouldn't have worked if we weren't already in love." He helped her to stand, and held her tightly.
"But still, even then, if it weren't for that potion we never would have kissed," Hermione said. She'd stopped crying, but the tears were still apparent in her voice.
Ron put his finger under her chin and tilted her head upwards. "Maybe our first kiss was a mistake," he said, staring into her brown eyes. "But we have the rest of our lives to correct it." Ron brought his lips to hers gently, but with more love than either thought themselves capable of. In this one kiss, they spoke without words, moved without bodies, and first felt the incomprehensible power of forever.
This one is the last chapter. It's over. Except for the epilogue, of course, which isn't much. Maybe a page or so.