Tell Me You Love Me
by: Christina Tidmore
a.k.a. Your Wildest Dreams
Come out to meet you,
Tell you I'm sorry,
You don't know how lovely you are.
I had to find you,
Tell you I need you,
Tell you I set you apart.
Tell me your secrets,
And ask me your questions,
Oh, let's go back to the start.
Running in circles
Coming in tails
Heads only a science apart.
Nobody said it was easy,
It's such a shame for us to part.
Nobody said it was easy,
No one ever said it would be this hard.
Oh, take me back to the start.
I was just guessing
Numbers and figures,
Pulling your puzzles apart.
Questions of science,
Science and progress,
Do not speak as loud as my heart.
Tell me you love me,
Come back and hold me,
Oh, when I rush back to the start.
Running in circles
Chasing tails
Coming back as we are.
Nobody said it was easy,
It's such a shame for us to part.
Nobody said it was easy,
No one ever said it would be so hard.
I'm going back to the start.
-Coldplay's "The Scientist"-
George Weasley entered the small bookstore that smelled strongly of the coffee they brewed here and new books, welcoming the cool air that was lighter than the pressing humid air outside. Hermione Granger, the one person he'd been looking for, stood from one of the many tables in the store, a smile on her pretty face. She wore an a candy apple-red shirt and jeans, her unruly curls pulled back in a messy bun at the back of her head, the bits that had escaped curling even more with the humidity that was in the atmosphere outside.
"George Weasley," she said as he approached and embraced him in a hug that surrounded him with her scent of jasmine and orchids. She hasn't changed a bit since the last time I saw her, he silently mused as they sat down from across each other. "Well, you look the same."
"Likewise," he said, laughing. "I was just thinking the same about you."
"I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing."
"It's good," George quickly replied. "Trust me." The girl, so clever and smart, just had no idea how pretty she was. It wasn't her looks, so much, as her intelligence and her humor, and... You're thinking too much again, the annoying voice in George's head reminded him.
"I think I'm schizophrenic," said George, and Hermione snorted into her mug of coffee.
"That was - so incredibly random," she gasped once she'd swallowed the liquid. "You're insane, and that is what makes you George Weasley."
"Are you complaining?"
"Oh, quite the opposite." Her eyes sparkled.
"So, would you mind telling me why we're meeting today? My curiosity has not yet been quenched completely." She smiled mysteriously, the twinkle in her eye (much like Dumbledore's, he observed) growing.
"I just wanted to see how my best friend's brother was doing before you went off to the United States to work for your branch of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes - who knows when I'll see you again? With Fred being on his honeymoon with Angelina, I couldn't bother to ask him. How is your love life going, while we're on the subject?"
"Or lack thereof," he said, not really bitter. "I've been single ever since Alicia and I went back to just being friends - you know the deal, didn't quite work out."
"Oh, I do all to well," she said, and he smiled.
"Sorry to remind you my brother's a prat." She just shrugged. "Believe me, he didn't know what he let go." Their gazes locked and he felt something stir inside of him that hadn't been kindled in a while.
"So, it's going to rain, huh?"
"Please, not the weather, it's too clichéd." She groaned and he laughed.
"Sorry. Er - what else, then? Oh, yes, Harry told me you got a job at Hogwarts - McGonagall's job, wasn't it?"
"And Headmistress to top it off."
"That's wonderful. You'll be the next Dumbledore, I can tell."
"Let's just hope Voldemort doesn't come back while I'm leader of Hogwarts then." George involuntarily flinched at the name. "Sorry about that."
"Now we're even. You hate the weather, I hate him." The next few minutes were silent, apart from them drinking their coffee (she'd ordered him a Raspberry Mocha, which he secretly hated but didn't dare tell her, and gulped it down). After finishing their coffee, they went around the bookstore and laughed about book covers in the romance section, and in the end Hermione chose a few Transfiguration books to read. When they stepped outside it had started to sprinkle.
"I haven't been out in the rain in a long time," she said softly, tilting her head back so the raindrops would fall on her face. Diagon Alley was almost completely deserted, something rare for the wizarding version of London. Lamps over the street came on as Hermione started jumping and spinning in the rain, George laughing at her.
"You're beautiful," he yelled over the pounding rain and rolling thunder when she fell against him in her vertigo.
"You're crazy," she retorted, grabbing his hands. "We're going to catch pneumonia in this, you know."
"Isn't that the truth." She then hugged him.
"Thank you for meeting me and not acting like I was an alien just now. I kind of got a little carried away."
"It's fun getting carried away. That's my mission in life - to get carried away forever." She laughed.
"I guess this is goodbye, then," she said, suddenly looking very solemn. She looked up at him, searching his face for a moment, before reaching up and tucking a bit of his hair behind his ear. He nodded numbly, willing his mind to think of something to say, but nothing was clicking. She backed away, then turned, walking off. What are you doing, Weasley? Would you just go over and tell her how you feel? You probably will never see her again.
"Hermione," he called, suddenly very bold, running after her. He grabbed her wrist and she turned, her hair whipping against her face, her eyes squinted in the driving rain.
"I love you." She said before he could. He slid his arms around her waist, leaning his forehead against hers.
"I love you more." He leaned in to kiss her, his lips sliding over hers as her arms snaked up around his neck, she pressing her body against his. And as they stood, kissing in the rain, he couldn't help but think of how clichéd it was, how Hermione might've hated it were it another person and another situation. She pulled away first, slightly breathless and her eyes bright. And then suddenly, everything clicked - everything made sense. His home was here, in England, with Hermione. Never would he have to leave if she was to stay with him.
"Is this the end?" She said, looking up in his eyes.
"No, Hermione. It's the beginning." He kissed her again as she smiled and he knew he was finally back to the start.
FIN