Holding Back Tears
Ch. 5
By Tiffiany Hargis
Disclaimer – Howdy y'all. Just thought you might like a little taste of Texas. Actually, I've never seriously greeted someone like that, but it might happen somewhere in this state. J Now that I have made no sense, its time for my senseless disclaimer. GUESS WHAT!!! J K Rowling just called me and apologized for not calling about Ron last time, but to make up for it she had great news. She told me that Ron finally told Hermione that he likes her and they are now an official couple!!! Can you believe it!? She said that they were bickering as usual but then Herm. said something about him not caring about her and her feelings, and then Ron got this determined look on his face and told her, "I care, I actually care to much." all James Bondish. Then he grabbed her dipped her all low and romantic then he KISSED her!!!!!! AWWWWW SO romantic. Rowling said that now they're inseparable and 'snogging' (for you English folk) anywhere and everywhere they can, and grossing out Harry and is causing him psychological damage. Then J.K. said she forgot to get me last April fools and that this was a belated April fool's joke. I almost flew to Scotland to kick her butt!!! (WOW these just keep getting longer and longer, "Sorry 'bout that!")
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Shouts of "Lumos" rang out through the street as the Death Eaters lit up the street with their wands. As the light illuminated the circle of Death Eaters, there was no sign of the two teenagers, but one of the Death Eaters was on the ground. It looked as if he had been tackled and he hit his head on the pavement when he fell, knocking him unconscious.
"Spread out and find them. Kill them on sight!!!" shouted one of the Death Eaters and they all ran in different directions to find the two teens.
Ron and Hermione ran as fast as a bruised up guy and a one shoed girl could. After they had run for what seemed like half an hour, though it was probably for only two minutes, they took shelter between a house and a garage.
"I think we're safe for right now," Ron said looking around the corner from where they had been previously running. "That was some quick thinking." Ron said turning around and grinning at her.
She was doubled over panting hard trying to get her breath back to a normal rhythm. She wasn't used to running; Ron on the other hand was in great shape from his Quidditch training so he was fine.
Once she caught her breath she took off her lone shoe that now were causing blisters on her foot. She looked at her hoes that were now ruined, and while Ron was looking out for Death Eaters she hurriedly took them off also.
When Ron turned around he saw Hermione taking off her graduation robe to reveal one of the most beautiful dresses he had ever seen. Well, maybe because it was on Hermione it was beautiful, but it fit her perfectly none the less. It was light blue made with a sheer material. When he took a step closer he saw little flower patterns sewn into it; they were not big enough to be seen from a distance yet when you were close each flower was different and very detailed. It had a v-neck that went low enough to hint a little cleavage, but it was fairly modest. The bottom of the skirt was ruffled a little and it reached a little higher than her knees.
He was staring at her dress as if he had never seen one before, and he kept getting closer and closer to her to see each of the intricate flowers. Before he knew it, he was about a step away from Hermione with her starring at him strangely because of his odd behavior. As he moved his head closer to it, all he wanted to do was touch the thin material. It looked like it would be incredibly soft and elegant to the touch.
"Ron are you ok?" Hermione asked him worriedly.
Ron was startled back to reality. He slowly raised his gaze up to her face, but along the way it stayed on her slender neck. Hanging on it was a little silver locket that he had given her for Christmas. It was fairly simple. It had a typical silver chain, the locket itself was a silver oval with a little rose boarder, and the word "Forever" was engraved in the centre. He had found small pictures of Harry and himself, and put them inside for her. When she received it she really seemed to like it, but he had never seen her wear it. This had made him believe she had just been pretending she liked it as to not hurt his feelings.
"You're wearing the locket," he replied finally looking into her eyes.
She smiled sheepishly, and looked down at it also. "Yeah, I thought it looked nice with this dress, and it was a special occasion," she said with a shrug.
"You've never worn it before; not even to the Valentine's ball," he whispered, fingering the locket with his left hand. His finger slid over the cool smooth surface.
"Well…," she stammered, surprised he noticed that she hadn't worn it before, and the way he was looking at her and toying with her locket made her feel a bit queasy. "Well, at the ball I wore gold dress robes so naturally I couldn't ware the silver locket, and I didn't want to risk losing it wearing it daily. So, I've kept it in a box in my trunk with that perfume you gave me fifth year. I loved it so much I wanted to take good care of it," she said to her feet, slightly embarrassed.
Ron smiled as he saw a faint pink cross her face. He dropped the locket, and let his fingers run over the material on her shoulder. It felt as nice as he thought. When he touched her shoulder her head jerked up as if she had been shocked.
A thin stream of dim light from one of the street lights cascaded over the side of her face. He was reminded of earlier that evening when the light reflected onto her from the water giving her an aura of light. She had looked beautiful then just as she looked beautiful now. He let his fingers travel down the rest of the short sleeve and then down the rest of her arm. When he reached her hand he grabbed it and intertwined their fingers.
Many things went through his mind as Hermione looked down at their combined hands and then looked back up at him with a shocked expression. One of these was the thought that the only reason he was alive right now was because of this marvelous woman. Another was that he was positively in love with her. This epiphany came so suddenly he was overwhelmed by the feeling. He looked into her eyes and wondered why he had not realized this incredible sensation earlier, but at the same time he knew he had suppressed this feeling for a long time now. Along with this revelation he knew he had to finally tell her how he felt. They had denied this for way too long now.
He slowly raised his other hand and placed a strand of her now straight hair behind her ear, but instead of letting his hand fall back to his side he let it rest lightly on her left cheek. He stared straight into her eyes, and took a step closer to her.
"Hermione…I…" he began. He couldn't seem to find the right way to translate his feelings into words. He closed his eyes to find the strength he needed. When he opened them he found tears in Hermione's eyes. It encouraged him to see her anticipating what he was going to do. Hermione I… I just wanted to tell you… to let you know…" He paused. Bloody HELL, this is way too difficult. He took a deep breath. "… that I lo…"
Before he could finish his sentence they heard a scream, and jumped apart into defensive positions. The scream was low and rough, but they couldn't mistake who it was.
"Harry!" Hermione quietly cried out.
'How could I be so stupid,' Ron thought angrily. It was SO selfish that he was here talking about his bloody feelings when Harry could be dying. 'You dumb git!' he chastised himself.
He turned back towards Hermione and saw the same fear and guilt in her eyes. "We better go," she said softly, and then moved past him to check for Death Eaters.
While she checked he pulled off his robe, loosened his tie, then took it off, unbuttoned the top buttons by his neck and cuffs of his shirt, and then rolled up his sleeves.
They both checked one more time to see if the coast was clear, and then ran out into the open in the direction Harry's scream had come from. As they ran Ron had never felt more defenseless and useless without his wand.
They strategically ran behind trees and in between houses to keep out of plain sight. Hermione was starting to feel very lost, and was about to stop to find some sort of clue as to where they were when Ron pushed her down behind some bushes in front of a house, and as she landed on her stomach he was on the ground right beside her. He put a finger to his lips to signal her to be quiet, and she heard footsteps slowly approach the house. She held her breath as he stopped at the front porch of the house; if he looked right and a little forward he would see them.
"Hey, you see anything?" said a voice from behind the Death Eater.
The man on the doorstep looked left and then right. Hermione squeezed her eyes shut and stayed as still as possible. "Nah, nothin' yet," he replied.
"Well, go inside and check. And take care of any problems," commanded the voice, and then they heard footsteps walking away from them. The other man stood at the door for a second, and then jiggled the door handle. It was locked so he muttered, "Alohomora." and effortlessly walked into the house.
'What did he mean by problem?' Hermione thought. 'What kind of wizarding problem would present itself in a muggle house?' But before she could think too much about it she was pulled up by Ron and they sneaked along the side of the house. When they reached the end of the bushes they stopped again to check and make sure no one was there when she heard voices above her. She looked up only to see they were underneath a window.
"What are you doing here?" cried out a male voice from the room. "Get out now, or I will call the police!"
There was a sudden flash of green light, a woman's scream filled the house, and a baby began crying. "No, No, please... please… don't…" but Hermione was jerked up and was running away from the house before she could hear the rest of what the woman said. As they ran she kept looking behind at the window, and she saw another green flash. They hid beside a tree not far from the house, and they could still hear the baby crying. But suddenly the crying stopped, and Hermione just stood there shaking; not believing what just happened what she just heard. She felt tears in her eyes; she felt so guilty. 'If it wasn't for me being here this wouldn't be happening' she kept thinking to herself. This just brought more tears to her eyes.
Ron grabbed Hermione's shoulders, turned her towards him, and made sure she was looking at him. "Hermione I know this is terrible," his voice shook a little, "but if Harry is still alive we need to do everything we possibly can to keep him that way." he urgently whispered to her. "We need to be really strong right now, ok? So we can save Harry, ok?"
Hermione shook her head in agreement slowly, but it was hard not to cry and to be strong when Ron's eyes were also glistening with tears.
"Ok. Let's go." he said. He took a deep breath, looked to both sides of the open space between two rows of houses, took Hermione's hand, and then ran as fast as they could toward the next row of residences.
Hermione let go of Ron's hand so she could run faster, but Ron was still two strides ahead of her. Unexpectedly, a jet of purple light flew by her face, and hit Ron squarely in the back. Ron was lifted into the air, where he flew about five yards forward, and landed face down on the ground.
"No!!!" Hermione shouted and abruptly stopped running and turned around to see the attacker.
The Death Eater had his wand pointed directly at her, and was walking threateningly slow towards them. Hermione slowly walked backwards with no sudden movements, and when she was aligned with Ron she stopped to see if he was alright. He was breathing heavily, and was moving in a pained way, but he was conscious. By the time the Death Eater got about ten yards away from them Ron had pulled himself up to a slouched standing position with a grimace of hate etched on his face, Hermione's was full of fear.
"Hello, again Weasley and Granger," said the cold voice from behind the mask. At the sound of his voice Ron stood straighter and Hermione gasped. "It has been a while since I have seen you last," he paused for a second, thinking. "Two years perhaps?" The man stood there for a moment staring at them from the eye slits of his mask. Then he quickly removed his hood, and the mask soon followed. The man's cold blue eyes stared evilly at them; his nearly white hair contrasted the dark night and combined with his black cloak it caused his face to glow dangerously against the nothingness behind him. The man standing in front of them was a man neither wanted to see again in their entire life; a man named Lucius Malfoy.
"It has been TOO long in fact," he spoke in a dark low voice, and then smiled.
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A/N- Hey guys, another cliff, but at least this one isn't as bad, because they're not in mortal peril at the moment anyway. J I hope you all are enjoying this story. I've had probably the most fun you can have writing this. This story starts writing itself sometimes and that is pretty scary. I want to give props to my beta reader Mione Weasley, because she has had the busiest week and has been sick, and she still found time to correct the mistakes in this chapter. She is the best beta reader ever!!!! Anyway, like always constructive criticism is always welcome and encouraged. Believe me you wont hurt my feelings.
P.S. To ReBelleRose thank you for your personal interest in this story and wanting it so exceed other stories that you have read. It inspires me to write the best I possibly can as to not disappoint you. I do have my story pretty planned out, but if this last chapter is going to be like the rest of my coming story than its going to go completely off my timeline I have for it. I originally didn't have anything more planned for Styx, but now that you have brought him more to my attention I can focus on bringing his story out more. Thank you for your care and input!!!
P.S.S. To Kagome19 you told me that Rupert is too young for me, first it was kind of a joke (Even though I do love Rupert, and I'm going to marry him in 5 years) secondly, I'm only 5 years older than Rupert. So when he is 20 and I'm 25 it won't matter that we love each other. But now that he is 14/15 and I just turned 20 it just doesn't sound that good. So there. J I'm just kidding have a great week and Thanksgiving Kagome and hopefully your dreams are more plausible than mine. I really need to stop putting unreachable goals in front of myself.
"In the long run men only hit what the aim at. Therefore, though they should fail immediately, they had better aim at something high."
Walden ~Henry David Thoreau~