"That's so odd..." Hermione said to Ron as she flipped through a page out a rather large book that was among many.
"What is?" Ron asked as he flipped through pages of the top selling Quidditch magazine "Quidditch Central."
"Lara doesn't seem to be in any of these books," she said with a brow furrowed.
"Why don't you just talk to her," Ron suggested, keeping his eyes on the magazine.
"That's the weird thing... I can't seem to find her. She's not anywhere around school... I looked for her in the Astronomy Tower and even the other ghosts said they haven't seen her for at least a week..." She said in a distraught voice.
"Maybe she went on vacation," Ron murmured.
"Ron, ghosts don't go on vacation," Hermione snapped.
"That's should be your next thing, let ghosts get vacations and pay for haunting the school," Ron said, mocking her obsession with freeing house elves by making the association S.P.E.W. from the last year.
"You are so naive," She said, rolling her eyes. "Besides, ghosts are haunted souls that have unfinished business that keeps them from crossing over."
((A/N: Grr... of course I finished writing my story before OoTP came out so of course that's wrong... but I can't change it! It would ruin everything! Grr))
"Cross over to what?" Ron asked.
"Egyptians used to believe that ever 'sacred' person was to go forward to an after life, after they die, or others believe in re-incarnation. But the place where spirits supposedly want to go is some sort of... oasis. I know this might be an awkward question but... what was it like to die...?"
Ron felt a cold tingle run down his spine as he began to recall the feeling. "It was like... I was falling... just kept falling into darkness. I saw memories of my life... basically flashing before my eyes."
"Like what?" She asked, closing a book that was in front of her, now paying full attention to Ron.
"Well... of our first year... when I said to Harry, well... you remember, then you ran off..." He muttered with a gulp, suddenly feeling guilty.
"Yeah... I remember that," she frowned.
"Of our second year, and... you being petrified." He didn't want to continue about what else he saw after that. "Then our third year, when I was in the Hospital Wing, after you and Harry saved Sirius and Buckbeak. Then... how I was watching..." He blinked, suddenly realizing that all his memories were of Hermione. "everyone at the Yule Ball... and then..."
"Then what?"
"Then I saw the Halloween Ball..." he muttered.
Hermione looked puzzled. "What do you mean? The ball was after that incident."
"I know."
"So you mean, you saw what happened before it actually happened... I mean, did it happen? What was it?"
"I saw a phantom," Ron said simply as Hermione froze.
"Is that it?" Hermione asked, panic stricken.
"No big deal," Ron shrugged. But they both knew that it was. "Hermione, you should just stop looking." Hermione snapped awake from her thoughts and realized that she was looking for something. "I mean, it's holidays... Christmas is in a few days." Ron said exuberantly as he quickly closed his magazine.
Hermione sighed heavily and closed the book in front of her. "I guess you're right." She looked around the library. "Where's Harry?"
"Off with Ginny," Ron said as he rolled his eyes.
"They're so cute together, aren't they?" Hermione said smiling.
"I guess," Ron shrugged the same way he had the last time she had said something like that. "Can we go then?" he said, motioning to the door.
"Yes," she muttered as she grabbed a pile of books and walked out of the library with Ron trailing behind her.
~*~*~ *~*~
"Ron... wake up!" Harry said, shaking him. Ron let out a long groan and began to rub his eyes.
"What the bloody 'ell do you want?" he moaned.
"It's Christmas you prat," Harry yelled in his ear. Two days had passed since the library and Ron was fast asleep in the boys' dormitory.
Ron jumped up, hitting his head on the other bed that was on top of his. ((Bunk beds)) "Ow..." he said, rubbing his forehead.
"C'mon, Hermione and Ginny want us to meet them down in the common room," he said. Both boys ran down to the common room to find Hermione and Ginny already waiting for them.
"What took you so long?" Ginny said to them as Harry slid into the spot on the couch next to her and Ron plopped down on a large satin chair that was facing the blazing fire in the fireplace.
"Here Harry," Ginny said, handing him a neatly wrapped present. Ron sighed heavily as he gazed into the fire. The voices of Harry and Ginny seemed to be miles away.
"Ron?" Hermione said, walking towards him with a package in her hand.
He turned around to face her as she handed him her gift. "Uh, here... Happy Christmas Ron," she said, smiling.
"Happy Christmas, 'Mione," he grinned back with a small glint in his eyes. He unwrapped the present that Hermione had given him and revealed a leather bound book. "A book..." he put on a fake smile. "Uh... thanks Hermione."
"Open it!" She insisted.
He opened the cover of the page and saw a picture of Harry, Hermione and himself standing together on their first year of Hogwarts. He flipped through the other pages and found one that caught his eye. It was at the Quidditch World Cup, 2 summers ago. Ron was standing in the middle with a bright smile on his face. To his right, Harry was looking around the area he was in, still waving aimlessly at the camera. Hermione, however was looking over at Ron, ruffling up his hair.
Ron laughed at this picture. "I remember that..." he muttered as he stared at it.
"That's one of my favorites... I asked your father and mother to give me some pictures of all of us and this was the first one they sent."
Ron closed the album and smiled. "Thanks 'Mione." He took a little box out of his pocket and handed it to her. "Here," he muttered.
She opened it and pulled out a chained bracelet. It had a small circular locket on it with the letters "H.G." on it. She tried to open the clasp on the locket, but it wouldn't budge.
"Dad got that from a client that was complaining it was biting her... dad un-jinxed it and I asked if I could have it... I got someone to engrave your initials on it." He said, his face slightly turning red.
"Oh Ron, it's lovely," She said, throwing her arms around his neck.
All of a sudden, Hermione felt someone tugging on her shirt. She let go of Ron and turned around to find a tiny little elf with rather large ears behind her. It was Dobby. His ears perked up like a dogs when she turned around. "Miss Granger?" he squeaked. "For you..." he said, holding out a single red rose to her.
"Uh... thank you, Dobby," Hermione muttered, looking quite confused.
"Oh, this not from Dobby, miss. Dobby just deliver to Miss Granger," Dobby said, handing it to her. "This too," he said, as he handed her a folded piece of paper that was under the tea cozy on his head.
Hermione read it: When you walk away, you don't hear me say; please, don't go. Simple and Clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight, it's hard to let go. You're giving me, too many things lately, you're all I need.
Pull a petal not a thorn and my challenge shall be born. A game of truth I give to you, to which way you are going to choose. The next part you shall see, it a riddle for you to see me.
Phantom.
Hermione blinked rapidly at the note with confusion as Ron ripped the note out of her hand and read it through. "Phantom?" he sneered as he threw the note back to her. "Sound like someone out of Saint Mungo if you ask me..." he muttered as he slumped back into his chair. Harry and Ginny looked at each other with an odd expression.
"Dobby, who gave you this?" Hermione asked.
"Dobby cannot say. Dobby told to be quiet," he said abruptly. Hermione frowned.
"Oh look!" Ron said abruptly. "Mum sent me another sweater." He said in a disgusted voice as he pulled out a maroon sweater and a pair of matching socks. "Looks like all of you got one too."
Harry watched Ron carefully as Ginny and Hermione began opening the present from Mrs. Weasley. Dobby crept over to Ron. Ron grabbed a sock off of his own foot and one of the maroon socks and handed it to Dobby who beamed brightly and skipped out of the room.
"Oh! Your mother sent me a red sweater... I love the color red..." Hermione squealed as she squeezed the sweater and quickly put it on.
Ron's face tinted rather quickly with red. "You actually wear that?" Ron asked, trying to put his mind on something else.
"... Of course," Hermione said as she pulled her hair out from inside the sweater. "Why wouldn't I?"
Ron shrugged. Hermione toyed with the rose in her hand. -Pull a petal not a thorn...- she thought. -Am I supposed to pull off a petal... what will that do?- she sighed heavily "Well, it's better then doing nothing..." she murmured to herself as she pulled off one of the silky red flower petals.
-That's odd- she thought to herself as she looked at the petal in her hand. It had a large 'eye' sketched on it with an ink quill.
"Well that's something you don't see everyday," Ron muttered, looking over her shoulder at the petal.
She stuffed the petal gently into the pocket of her robes and scowled at Ron. "It's my own business, Ronald," she snapped.
"I bet it was from Vicky," he sneered. "Or dense Damon..."
"Oh you are so immature..." she rolled her eyes at Ron as he sunk back into his chair. "Do you insist on coming up with ridiculous nicknames for all of them?"
"Maybe," he grumbled under his breath.
"Okay, enough bickering you two," Ginny said, stepping into the argument.
"Yeah, lighten up, it's Christmas," Harry said as he opened a present from Sirius. "I can't wait till school end and I don't have to go live with the Dursley's." Harry said smiling.
"You'll still come to our house though, won't you?" Ginny asked as she grinned. Harry grinned back as Ron choked on a Bertie Bott from the package he had gotten from Harry.
"Ugh..." he said, looking disgusted at them. "I'm not sure I want you around in our house anymore..." Ron said with a sour face.
"Oh grow up Ron," Ginny snapped.
Ron rolled his eyes. "It's bloody amazing how many times people have told me that lately," he exclaimed.
"I wonder why," the rest of them said laughing sarcastically. Ron's face turned scarlet again.
((Hope you all liked this chapter!! Next chapter is: Realizations of Ron. AND... there's a little twist *laughs insanely* *cough* Okay... anyway, please read and review! Oh wait... I want to make it clear that the rose for Christmas is NOT the reason I named it Harry Potter and the Red Rose... that's just a little part that is very interesting to the fact why I named it what it's named... yeah, so anyway...yeah
Reviews from 17th/ some 18th chapter:
Strawberries and Blueberries: I'm thinking that J.K Rowling might have made them not get together in the 5th book for a reason, I haven't thought up anything yet, but it's just a thought. Thanks for reviewing!
muykiay: (For 17th and 18th chapter) Sirius and Lupin did say in the 5th book when Harry asked him about his father that Lily and James got together in their 7th year (Once James had deflated his head a bit) Anyway, I have a bad bad feeling about the 6th book... about supposedly where Rowling got Ron's name *gulp* Anyway, thankya!
MiSSiNDEPENDENT: Yeah, it did, if they don't end up getting together by the end of the books, I will personally fly to England and yell at Rowling, heh. It would just be so wrong if the two don't get together!
Crazy4RonW: (17th and 18th chapter) Thank you so much!
Magical*Me: Exactly! Harry didn't react or feel bad that Cho was dating someone else at the end, and a lot of other things leading up to Harry/Ginny. And yes, this is a very intricate tale, *sigh* Happy ending though... I think... *blinks*
laura: Thank you SO much! And I have to agree with the Ron thing, he isn't mature enough for a relationship just yet, so yeah, the 6th or 7th book definitely. AS J.K. Rowling said in an interview: There is something going on between Ron and Hermione, just Ron doesn't know it yet... ^_^
The Girl Who Loves To Read: We're all aiming for the 6th book... we can only hope that neither of them die.. or something like that...
Julie: (For Chapter 17 and 18) I think Ron should blame Harry for all the times that that's happened in my story ^_^ Cause I think it was always him that popped up... *rolls eyes* Dang Harry. Thank ya for reviewing!
I Love Redheads: (For chapter 17 and 18) They are pretty much the only logical couple, then again Harry and Ginny is logical too but heck *shrugs* Thanks for reviewing!
"What is?" Ron asked as he flipped through pages of the top selling Quidditch magazine "Quidditch Central."
"Lara doesn't seem to be in any of these books," she said with a brow furrowed.
"Why don't you just talk to her," Ron suggested, keeping his eyes on the magazine.
"That's the weird thing... I can't seem to find her. She's not anywhere around school... I looked for her in the Astronomy Tower and even the other ghosts said they haven't seen her for at least a week..." She said in a distraught voice.
"Maybe she went on vacation," Ron murmured.
"Ron, ghosts don't go on vacation," Hermione snapped.
"That's should be your next thing, let ghosts get vacations and pay for haunting the school," Ron said, mocking her obsession with freeing house elves by making the association S.P.E.W. from the last year.
"You are so naive," She said, rolling her eyes. "Besides, ghosts are haunted souls that have unfinished business that keeps them from crossing over."
((A/N: Grr... of course I finished writing my story before OoTP came out so of course that's wrong... but I can't change it! It would ruin everything! Grr))
"Cross over to what?" Ron asked.
"Egyptians used to believe that ever 'sacred' person was to go forward to an after life, after they die, or others believe in re-incarnation. But the place where spirits supposedly want to go is some sort of... oasis. I know this might be an awkward question but... what was it like to die...?"
Ron felt a cold tingle run down his spine as he began to recall the feeling. "It was like... I was falling... just kept falling into darkness. I saw memories of my life... basically flashing before my eyes."
"Like what?" She asked, closing a book that was in front of her, now paying full attention to Ron.
"Well... of our first year... when I said to Harry, well... you remember, then you ran off..." He muttered with a gulp, suddenly feeling guilty.
"Yeah... I remember that," she frowned.
"Of our second year, and... you being petrified." He didn't want to continue about what else he saw after that. "Then our third year, when I was in the Hospital Wing, after you and Harry saved Sirius and Buckbeak. Then... how I was watching..." He blinked, suddenly realizing that all his memories were of Hermione. "everyone at the Yule Ball... and then..."
"Then what?"
"Then I saw the Halloween Ball..." he muttered.
Hermione looked puzzled. "What do you mean? The ball was after that incident."
"I know."
"So you mean, you saw what happened before it actually happened... I mean, did it happen? What was it?"
"I saw a phantom," Ron said simply as Hermione froze.
"Is that it?" Hermione asked, panic stricken.
"No big deal," Ron shrugged. But they both knew that it was. "Hermione, you should just stop looking." Hermione snapped awake from her thoughts and realized that she was looking for something. "I mean, it's holidays... Christmas is in a few days." Ron said exuberantly as he quickly closed his magazine.
Hermione sighed heavily and closed the book in front of her. "I guess you're right." She looked around the library. "Where's Harry?"
"Off with Ginny," Ron said as he rolled his eyes.
"They're so cute together, aren't they?" Hermione said smiling.
"I guess," Ron shrugged the same way he had the last time she had said something like that. "Can we go then?" he said, motioning to the door.
"Yes," she muttered as she grabbed a pile of books and walked out of the library with Ron trailing behind her.
~*~*~ *~*~
"Ron... wake up!" Harry said, shaking him. Ron let out a long groan and began to rub his eyes.
"What the bloody 'ell do you want?" he moaned.
"It's Christmas you prat," Harry yelled in his ear. Two days had passed since the library and Ron was fast asleep in the boys' dormitory.
Ron jumped up, hitting his head on the other bed that was on top of his. ((Bunk beds)) "Ow..." he said, rubbing his forehead.
"C'mon, Hermione and Ginny want us to meet them down in the common room," he said. Both boys ran down to the common room to find Hermione and Ginny already waiting for them.
"What took you so long?" Ginny said to them as Harry slid into the spot on the couch next to her and Ron plopped down on a large satin chair that was facing the blazing fire in the fireplace.
"Here Harry," Ginny said, handing him a neatly wrapped present. Ron sighed heavily as he gazed into the fire. The voices of Harry and Ginny seemed to be miles away.
"Ron?" Hermione said, walking towards him with a package in her hand.
He turned around to face her as she handed him her gift. "Uh, here... Happy Christmas Ron," she said, smiling.
"Happy Christmas, 'Mione," he grinned back with a small glint in his eyes. He unwrapped the present that Hermione had given him and revealed a leather bound book. "A book..." he put on a fake smile. "Uh... thanks Hermione."
"Open it!" She insisted.
He opened the cover of the page and saw a picture of Harry, Hermione and himself standing together on their first year of Hogwarts. He flipped through the other pages and found one that caught his eye. It was at the Quidditch World Cup, 2 summers ago. Ron was standing in the middle with a bright smile on his face. To his right, Harry was looking around the area he was in, still waving aimlessly at the camera. Hermione, however was looking over at Ron, ruffling up his hair.
Ron laughed at this picture. "I remember that..." he muttered as he stared at it.
"That's one of my favorites... I asked your father and mother to give me some pictures of all of us and this was the first one they sent."
Ron closed the album and smiled. "Thanks 'Mione." He took a little box out of his pocket and handed it to her. "Here," he muttered.
She opened it and pulled out a chained bracelet. It had a small circular locket on it with the letters "H.G." on it. She tried to open the clasp on the locket, but it wouldn't budge.
"Dad got that from a client that was complaining it was biting her... dad un-jinxed it and I asked if I could have it... I got someone to engrave your initials on it." He said, his face slightly turning red.
"Oh Ron, it's lovely," She said, throwing her arms around his neck.
All of a sudden, Hermione felt someone tugging on her shirt. She let go of Ron and turned around to find a tiny little elf with rather large ears behind her. It was Dobby. His ears perked up like a dogs when she turned around. "Miss Granger?" he squeaked. "For you..." he said, holding out a single red rose to her.
"Uh... thank you, Dobby," Hermione muttered, looking quite confused.
"Oh, this not from Dobby, miss. Dobby just deliver to Miss Granger," Dobby said, handing it to her. "This too," he said, as he handed her a folded piece of paper that was under the tea cozy on his head.
Hermione read it: When you walk away, you don't hear me say; please, don't go. Simple and Clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight, it's hard to let go. You're giving me, too many things lately, you're all I need.
Pull a petal not a thorn and my challenge shall be born. A game of truth I give to you, to which way you are going to choose. The next part you shall see, it a riddle for you to see me.
Phantom.
Hermione blinked rapidly at the note with confusion as Ron ripped the note out of her hand and read it through. "Phantom?" he sneered as he threw the note back to her. "Sound like someone out of Saint Mungo if you ask me..." he muttered as he slumped back into his chair. Harry and Ginny looked at each other with an odd expression.
"Dobby, who gave you this?" Hermione asked.
"Dobby cannot say. Dobby told to be quiet," he said abruptly. Hermione frowned.
"Oh look!" Ron said abruptly. "Mum sent me another sweater." He said in a disgusted voice as he pulled out a maroon sweater and a pair of matching socks. "Looks like all of you got one too."
Harry watched Ron carefully as Ginny and Hermione began opening the present from Mrs. Weasley. Dobby crept over to Ron. Ron grabbed a sock off of his own foot and one of the maroon socks and handed it to Dobby who beamed brightly and skipped out of the room.
"Oh! Your mother sent me a red sweater... I love the color red..." Hermione squealed as she squeezed the sweater and quickly put it on.
Ron's face tinted rather quickly with red. "You actually wear that?" Ron asked, trying to put his mind on something else.
"... Of course," Hermione said as she pulled her hair out from inside the sweater. "Why wouldn't I?"
Ron shrugged. Hermione toyed with the rose in her hand. -Pull a petal not a thorn...- she thought. -Am I supposed to pull off a petal... what will that do?- she sighed heavily "Well, it's better then doing nothing..." she murmured to herself as she pulled off one of the silky red flower petals.
-That's odd- she thought to herself as she looked at the petal in her hand. It had a large 'eye' sketched on it with an ink quill.
"Well that's something you don't see everyday," Ron muttered, looking over her shoulder at the petal.
She stuffed the petal gently into the pocket of her robes and scowled at Ron. "It's my own business, Ronald," she snapped.
"I bet it was from Vicky," he sneered. "Or dense Damon..."
"Oh you are so immature..." she rolled her eyes at Ron as he sunk back into his chair. "Do you insist on coming up with ridiculous nicknames for all of them?"
"Maybe," he grumbled under his breath.
"Okay, enough bickering you two," Ginny said, stepping into the argument.
"Yeah, lighten up, it's Christmas," Harry said as he opened a present from Sirius. "I can't wait till school end and I don't have to go live with the Dursley's." Harry said smiling.
"You'll still come to our house though, won't you?" Ginny asked as she grinned. Harry grinned back as Ron choked on a Bertie Bott from the package he had gotten from Harry.
"Ugh..." he said, looking disgusted at them. "I'm not sure I want you around in our house anymore..." Ron said with a sour face.
"Oh grow up Ron," Ginny snapped.
Ron rolled his eyes. "It's bloody amazing how many times people have told me that lately," he exclaimed.
"I wonder why," the rest of them said laughing sarcastically. Ron's face turned scarlet again.
((Hope you all liked this chapter!! Next chapter is: Realizations of Ron. AND... there's a little twist *laughs insanely* *cough* Okay... anyway, please read and review! Oh wait... I want to make it clear that the rose for Christmas is NOT the reason I named it Harry Potter and the Red Rose... that's just a little part that is very interesting to the fact why I named it what it's named... yeah, so anyway...yeah
Reviews from 17th/ some 18th chapter:
Strawberries and Blueberries: I'm thinking that J.K Rowling might have made them not get together in the 5th book for a reason, I haven't thought up anything yet, but it's just a thought. Thanks for reviewing!
muykiay: (For 17th and 18th chapter) Sirius and Lupin did say in the 5th book when Harry asked him about his father that Lily and James got together in their 7th year (Once James had deflated his head a bit) Anyway, I have a bad bad feeling about the 6th book... about supposedly where Rowling got Ron's name *gulp* Anyway, thankya!
MiSSiNDEPENDENT: Yeah, it did, if they don't end up getting together by the end of the books, I will personally fly to England and yell at Rowling, heh. It would just be so wrong if the two don't get together!
Crazy4RonW: (17th and 18th chapter) Thank you so much!
Magical*Me: Exactly! Harry didn't react or feel bad that Cho was dating someone else at the end, and a lot of other things leading up to Harry/Ginny. And yes, this is a very intricate tale, *sigh* Happy ending though... I think... *blinks*
laura: Thank you SO much! And I have to agree with the Ron thing, he isn't mature enough for a relationship just yet, so yeah, the 6th or 7th book definitely. AS J.K. Rowling said in an interview: There is something going on between Ron and Hermione, just Ron doesn't know it yet... ^_^
The Girl Who Loves To Read: We're all aiming for the 6th book... we can only hope that neither of them die.. or something like that...
Julie: (For Chapter 17 and 18) I think Ron should blame Harry for all the times that that's happened in my story ^_^ Cause I think it was always him that popped up... *rolls eyes* Dang Harry. Thank ya for reviewing!
I Love Redheads: (For chapter 17 and 18) They are pretty much the only logical couple, then again Harry and Ginny is logical too but heck *shrugs* Thanks for reviewing!
