AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks for all your sweet reviews! They were really encouraging, especially seeing as I wasn't sure whether to post this story or not in the first place.

Special thanks to nagini for pointing out that "Romeo and Juliet" isn't set in England (I'm so embarrassed! I mean, I do know that... I have no idea where my mind was at the moment! : )

Anyway, this is part two (obviously) which I hope you'll enjoy as much as the first part.

DISCLAIMER: It's JK Rowling's, not mine.

Part 2

~Gravity~

Hermione felt her heart beat faster with excitement as she walked toward the shore of the lake, one skate in each hand. She could see the rink clearly. It was demarcated by a wooden fence, beautifully decorated with garlands of box and holly, and a few people were already out on the ice, skating. She felt slightly disappointed, seeing as she had been up at the crack of dawn, hoping to get some time all to herself on the ice. But these were obviously people as enthusiastic about skating as she was, so hopefully sharing the ice with them wouldn't prove to be all too bad.

Wooden benches had been set up on the shore, and she sat down on one of them, letting her skates drop to the ground. She sat there in the semi-darkness for a while, inhaling the crisp clear winter air. The sun was about to come up, and in an hour or two students would be milling out of the castle after having had breakfast. Hermione kicked off her shoes and started putting on her skates. Soon she was out on the ice, grinning widely and relishing the feeling of complete calm and freedom that she got every time she ice skated. Time passed, and she skated and twirled and flew across the ice, completely lost in herself and oblivious to the slowly growing group of students on the shore.

"Oi, Hermione!"

She snapped out of her waking dream so abruptly that she fell over and landed on her knees, much to the amusement of the spectators. She quickly got up and angrily brushed off the snow from her clothes. Then she, as gracefully as she could manage, made her way over to Ron and Harry, leaning over the wooden fence. They were grinning in a way that was enough to make her blood boil.

"What do you want?" she snapped at them, putting her hands on her hips.

Ron furrowed his brow and nodded at the rink. "I can see this is something you've done a lot in your days," he said, mock-seriously.

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "As a matter of fact, I have," she said icily. "And if the two of you hadn't startled me like that, then you would have seen so for yourself."

"Whatever you say," Ron said with an insufferable grin. She scowled at him, but then a slow, malicious smile spread on her lips.

"So..." she said, tilting her head and looking up at Ron. "Let's see you give it a try. Should prove to be interesting."

Ron paled. "I, uh... I don't think I feel like it."

Hermione raised her eyebrows, amused. Harry, who was always up for a bit of friendly teasing, turned to Ron with a grin. "Oh, come on, mate. You don't even know what it's like. Have to at least try it out."

Hermione gave a silent chuckle at the panic evident in her friend's eyes. "Harry's right, Ron," she said. "You don't know what it's like. For all you know you'll love it. Who knows, maybe we'll have a hard time getting you off this rink tonight."

"I... hrm, have a headache," Ron stated, looking right and left, as if searching for an escape route. Hermione shook her head with a smile. Excuses didn't come any lamer than that.

"Oh, come on," she said sweetly. "I'll teach you to do pirouettes."

At this Harry started laughing so hard he had to sit down to catch his breath. Ron, however, was not laughing. He raised his hand, forefinger extended and looking about ready to deliver an angry speech in defence of himself when Fred and George came up behind Hermione on the ice. Their wobbly legs and waving hands drew the attention of quite a few spectators.

"Good morning to you all," Fred said, managing to fall on his behind while attempting to stop. Harry looked amused.

"Having fun?" he asked.

"Indeed we are, Harry," Fred answered. "Interesting activity, this."

George nodded in agreement. "Most interesting. Leave it to a Muggle to design a sport where you make it as hard for yourself to keep your balance as possible."
He'd barely uttered the words "keep your balance" before he lost his own and fell flat on his face. The sight sent them all off into a laughing fit, even Ron. But he was immediately silenced when Fred asked him why he hadn't come out on the ice yet.

"Don't feel like it," he said gruffly and went back to sulking. This was apparently, in his brothers' eyes, unacceptable behaviour, and they started lecturing him – only half-seriously, of course – about how badly he was acting considering how much trouble the teachers had gone through to give them this. And, much to Hermione's surprise, their words seemed to do the trick. In a few minutes, both Harry and Ron had got hold of skates and were out on the ice.

*****

"Ow! Hands off, alright?"

Hermione gave an irritated sigh and drew her hand away from Ron's knee. She hadn't gotten a chance to see how big the bump which had formed there was, but considering the amount of complaining he was doing, it must be quite large.

"Fine," she said. "I was just trying to help."

"I don't need help."

She was about to say something about his performances on the ice so far being pretty contradictory to that comment, but refrained from doing so, knowing she'd just needlessly wound his already injured ego.

They were sitting on one of the benches by the ice-skating rink, taking a break for lunch. The rink was as good as full of skating students now, talking and laughing. Hagrid had come out of his cabin half an hour ago, carrying an enormous cauldron and announcing that there would soon be hot chocolate for everyone. Hermione, Ron and Harry had felt this to be a fitting time for a break, and Harry had gone off to join the long line of students waiting to be served by Hagrid, while Hermione had joined Ron on the bench. He'd fallen just minutes earlier, apparently hurting his knee, and she'd wanted to take a look at it. Something which he obviously wasn't going to let her do.

"Silly sport, this is," he muttered and she couldn't help but smile. He'd spent the last two hours stumbling around on the ice, flailing his arms about and yelling obscenities. Clearly, Ron was still unconvinced about the wonders of ice skating after his first encounter with the sport.

Harry arrived then, balancing three mugs of steaming chocolate in his hands. They sat there on the bench in silence for a while, sipping their drinks and observing the skaters. Practically every Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff had come out here today and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely. The absence of Slytherins was probably a contributing factor to their mirth. Not a single student from that house had set their foot anywhere near the lake during the morning. Professor Snape had made an appearance at one time, only to disappear again quickly, when asked by Hagrid if he wouldn't like to borrow a pair of skates.

Many of the teachers were indeed out on the ice, enjoying themselves just as much as the students. Professor Dumbledore himself was even present, although not participating actively. Instead he chose to observe the skaters from a seat right next to Hagrid's hot chocolate stand, every now and then coming with an encouraging comment to a fallen student.

Ron emptied the last of his drink into his mouth and put the mug down. He got up on shaky legs.

"Right," he said. "I better be off again."

Hermione and Harry looked up at him, equally surprised.

"You mean you're getting back on the ice?" Harry asked. "By own free will?"

Ron nodded, looking determined. "I have to. Or else I'll never get this right."

Hermione's heart swelled with pride of her friend. It was so typically Ron; to, despite his number of falls and bruises, just get back in and keep on trying. "Do you want any help?" she asked.

Ron shook his head. "Thanks, but no thanks. This is between me and gravity."

With that he set out on the ice, with as wobbly legs as before. Hermione watched him take a few shaky strides before tripping and falling to his knees. She decided to ignore his earlier declaration of independence and got up to help him. When she had almost reached him, she heard a horrible chuckle, one she was all too familiar with.

"Having trouble keeping your balance, Weasley?"

Malfoy's voice made Ron look up and his face darkened. Just then, Hermione reached him and extended her hand. "Ignore him, Ron," she said in a pleading voice. Ron looked at her, clearly ready to object, but instead he remained quiet and took her hand. Gripping it tightly, he managed to pull himself up and once again stood on unsteady legs. Brushing himself off, he muttered a thanks to her, before turning to skate away from the fence and Malfoy. But he stopped as he was addressed again.

"What's the matter? Out of comebacks, are you?"

Ron slowly turned around, and Hermione feared the worst. She braced herself for the flood of foul words that was bound to come out of Ron's mouth. But to her surprise she found that instead of looking angry, he just looked annoyed.

"You know, I'd like to see you have a go at this, Malfoy," he said. "What an interesting sight that would be, wouldn't it? It would probably beat the bouncing ferret by miles."

Malfoy lost his evil grin and his face flushed with anger. "As if I'd ever be caught doing something like this," he spat. "I'd rather die than join in on your stupid Muggle-games. It's hardly something for us pure-bred wizards."

"Oh, honestly," Hermione said with a roll of her eyes. "I don't see how your parents being related is something to be proud of."

Ron burst into laughter at this, while Malfoy's face turned even redder. "What did you say???" he roared, looking about ready to explode.

Hermione adorned a mock-apologetic expression. "Oh, sorry. I thought you said 'inbred'. My mistake." Smiling sweetly at him, she took Ron's arm and they turned their backs on Malfoy, making their way further out on the ice.

Ron was still chuckling at her words minutes later. "That was priceless!" he said, in between laughs. "Absolutely priceless! You know, you sure have a way with words, Hermione."

Although she said nothing, Hermione was inwardly pleased at his approval. And at the utterly shamed look on Malfoy's ugly face when she'd said what she'd said. It always felt good to walk head-held-high out of an argument with that git.

Hermione suddenly noticed that her arm was still linked with Ron's. Instantly feeling awkward, she debated whether or not to withdraw her arm. She nervously glanced around to see if anyone was watching them from the shore, but found that they were perfectly shielded by the noisy mass of students. Having made sure that there was no Fred or George nearby, she found herself relaxing a bit. It felt nice, in a way, to stumble around on the ice, arm in arm with Ron. And, should anyone question their closeness, she could always claim herself to be a mere support for her friend, to keep him from falling. Which he definitely needed, she thought to herself.

They had reached the outskirts of the enclosure, where there weren't as many students. Not far away stood the fence which marked the end of the rink. The ice reached a bit further beyond the fence, but Dumbledore had warned them to go there, seeing as that ice hadn't been tested, and there was no way to know if it would hold a person.

Ron abruptly halted, rather unsteadily at that. Hermione let go of his arm and looked up at him, puzzled.

"What's the matter?" she asked, a sudden panic building inside her. Was it about the arm-holding? Had he disliked it?

But she found he wasn't looking displeased at all. No, his mouth was curved in a mischievous grin and his eyes sparkled mirthfully.

"Ron?" she asked. No answer.

Then, slowly, slowly, he turned his head to look at her. She raised her eyebrows, questioning. He eyed her for a moment, and while under his gaze she felt that familiar churn of her stomach. She was about to start telling him off for acting so strange, when suddenly...

"Race you to the fence."

It caught her completely off guard, as he'd clearly expected. Before she had time to gather herself enough to start moving, he'd already taken a couple of long, ungraceful strides and was several yards ahead of her.

"Ron! You hopeless prat!" she yelled and started the chase. She was pleased to find that his long legs weren't enough to outrun her; her swift skating caught up with him before long.

"Oi!" he yelled, annoyed, as the distance between them closed more and more. But it was all he could say before his left skate caught hold of the right one, sending him flying to the ground.

"Ron!" Hermione cried and made a quick stop. Ron had glided quite some distance on his front, and now lay, arms spread and head up, on the ice. Hermione reached him and knelt by his side.

"Ron, are you alright?" she asked, placing a hand on his back and not caring how obviously concerned she sounded. He was still staring straight ahead, a look of pure shock on his face.

"Ron?" Hermione said, much more weakly this time. His silence frightened her. What if he'd taken a blow to the head? What if he'd suffered some serious damage...?

But all her worries were cast aside as the look of shock on Ron's face disappeared, and he erupted into laughter. He rolled onto his back, resting his head on the ice, and laughed for a full minute. The longer he laughed, the more irritated Hermione grew. It was so typical of him, to have her all worried like that and then just... be fine. Of course, it was good that he was fine, she was happy he wasn't hurt, but still... well, he didn't have to laugh like that, did he?

He noticed her irritation then, and immediately stopped laughing. Looking ashamed in a way that melted her heart, he struggled to sit up. She helped pull him up and he sat on the ice, leaning back on his arms. He carefully eyed her, sitting on her knees next to him.

"Sorry," he said. She didn't answer, wishing to punish him further for having her worried like that. Looking away, she struggled to maintain an annoyed and slightly hurt expression. It proved to be harder than she'd thought, seeing as he was so obviously studying her intently at the same time, and his eyes were leaving burn marks on her frozen cheeks.

Then suddenly he did something she wasn't the least bit prepared for. She felt a big, mitten-clad hand land on her own hands, resting in her lap. His one hand almost covered both her own. She looked at him, knowing she must look startled, and didn't feel less surprised when she saw the sincerely apologetic look on his face.

"I'm sorry," he said again, looking as if he was scared she'd start yelling at him. "I shouldn't have laughed."

She couldn't possibly look annoyed any longer. Smiling in a way she hoped wasn't too forgiving, she released one of her hands from under the weight of his and swatted him playfully over the head.

"You had me worried," she said. "I thought you'd suffered some serious brain damage, the way you were acting."

He shrugged, grinning. "Guess I was in shock."

They sat there, looking at each other and smiling for a few seconds. Then Hermione became acutely aware of the fact that his hand was still in her lap and that she was enjoying it a bit too much. She hastily rose, and formally lent him her hand. He took it, looking slightly perplexed, and got to his feet. After brushing off the snow from his clothes, he patted his front, seemingly searching for something. A frown formed on his face.

"Funny..." he said and searched the ground around him.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"My wand. I haven't got it on me."

Hermione also began searching the ice. She skated some distance towards the fence, and shadowed her eyes against the sun, looking ahead. Then she caught sight of it.

A few feet outside the enclosure, on the ice, Ron's wand lay in perfect oblivion of the people searching for it.

"Ron! Over there!"

Ron looked at where she was pointing and let out a frustrated groan.

"Brilliant," he said bitterly. "Now I'll have to go tell Dumbledore about my ridiculous fall and have everybody hear about it."

"Oh, don't be silly," Hermione said and skated the final distance to the fence. "I'll get it for you."

She could almost hear how surprised Ron was.

"You're not serious!"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" she asked as she laid down on her stomach and slid under the fence.

"But, Hermione, you can't go out there! The ice may not be strong enough! Dumbledore said so himself!"

"Oh, for goodness sake, Ron," she said as she stood up on the other side of the fence. "You sound like me."

Ron had now made his way to the fence and stood there, nervously tapping it with his hands. "Maybe we should just go tell one of the teachers," he said. But Hermione gave him one of her famous "lay off it" looks.

"There's no need to bother them. I'll be out and back with your wand in less than a minute. It's no more than fifteen feet away, see? Why would the ice be any weaker out there, when it stretches out more than a hundred feet beyond the fence?"

Ron didn't look the least bit convinced. Hermione sighed deeply, hoping it expressed her impatience. "Look, do you want your wand back or not? Because if you don't, then it's fine by me. We can just leave it there to be picked up by some bird looking to build a nest."

Ron looked over at his wand, clearly still unconvinced, but now also looking slightly worried. Hermione could tell he was thinking about the look on Mrs. Weasley's face when he told her he'd lost his wand and needed a new one (again).

"Alright," he said finally. "But I'm coming with you."

She didn't have time to protest before he too had slid under the fence and stood next to her. And truthfully she didn't want to protest. There was something about Ron wanting to follow her out on the thin ice, and the way in which he announced it, that made her feel cared for. And it was most certainly not an unpleasant feeling. She felt a flush spread over her face and was thankful her cheeks were already red from the cold.

"Right," Hermione said, gathering herself. "Let's just take it slowly and carefully."

They began, indeed slowly and carefully, making their way towards the wand in distress. As Hermione had pointed out earlier, it hadn't landed far away, and they reached it quickly, despite their slow pace. Hermione, being the shorter of the two, swiftly bent down and picked the wand up, handing it to Ron.

"There," she said, pleased. "No danger, see?"

The moment she uttered the words, they heard an ill-omened crackling sound and immediately looked down, alarmed.

"I'm not so sure about that," Ron said, panic evident in his voice as he watched the crack which had formed in the ice below them grow every second. Hermione's heart sped up and she swallowed hard.

"It's... it's okay..." she said, aware of how unconvincing she sounded. She searched her mind for information about what to do in a situation like this, but couldn't seem to come up with anything.

"All we have to do is... is..."

"All we have to do is get off this ruddy ice!" Ron practically yelled. He swiftly turned and started stumbling back to the fence.

"Ron! Wait! You're going to..."

But it was too late. The ice gave way below him. He was too shocked to call out, but Hermione wasn't. She screamed at the top of her lungs as she felt the ice open up underneath her as well.

The ice-cold water felt like a thousand knives stabbing every inch of her body. She was sure her heart would stop beating, but somehow it didn't. She kicked with her legs and waved her arms, struggling to get back to the surface again, but to no avail. Her drenched robes were far too heavy and continued pulling her down.

Suddenly seized by panic, she started pulling at her robes to try and remove them, so she could get back up. But she was working in an irrational manner, and it only resulted in her limbs feeling even weaker.

It felt as if her head was getting smaller by the minute; she was sure her skull would crack from the sheer cold. Ironically enough, it felt as if her lungs were burning up from the oxygen she was holding in.

Feeling utterly and completely helpless, Hermione stopped moving. This is it, she thought. This is how I die. After all I've come through unharmed, this is how I end my days. It was her one, last clear thought before everything went black.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Hmmm... pretty dramatic, eh? I'm currently working on part three, but I don't know when it'll be finished, there's a bunch of end-of-term stuff I have to take care of at the same time. I'll try to be swift, though!

Please tell me what you thought of this part. There's something about it that bugs me, I just can't put my finger on it... maybe you can help?