Happy Birthday, Cho Chapter 9

A/N: Okay, my triumphant return to fanfiction writing wasn't as triumphant as I hoped it would be. I got a whole two reviews for my latest chapter. Big thanks go to eLmOs WoRlD828 and MystikalMagic for reviewing chapter eight. I love writing as I've said before and I really like to get reviews so I know if I'm going in the direction that my audience. This is, by no means a novel. Instead it is a series fiction that I am writing in my spare time so if you happen to not like the way I am taking a storyline then give your opinion. It will be taken into account. If you like the way the story is progressing then say that as well so I know that I'm doing the right thing. Anywho, that's all for that. Please enjoy chapter nine.

Harry made his way out of the castle with no incident. He then made his way to the lake in hopes that Hermione would be there. He took all the compliments and jeers in stride, responding to the congratulations with a wave of his whole hand and the snide comments with a wave of four fewer fingers. It took him about ten minutes of looking before he finally noticed Hermione sitting with her knees pulled in close to her body under a tree far away from the main hustle and bustle. Harry supposed that he should've looked somewhere out of the way first, but at least she was in a place where he could converse with her without being overheard by anyone.

As Harry approached, he could tell that she was crying, not that it was a big surprise to him. If Ron had been brought to tears by this then Hermione most definitely would have been. Harry sat down on the grass next to his friend and tentatively put his arm around her shoulders and jumped slightly when she flinched. Hermione looked up and her eyes were bright red and tears still flowed down her cheeks. She looked over at Harry to see who was there and then turned away probably, like Ron, not wanting Harry to see her crying.

"Hermione," Harry began but didn't get any further.

"Harry," Hermione said, sniffling, "I don't want to hear whatever you have to say. I know why you're here. You talked to him and you're trying to get me to forgive him. Well, I WON'T!"

"Hermione," Harry said more sternly. "I don't care what you WANT to hear. I'm going to tell you what I came down here to say. Yes, I did talk to Ron and if you want to know where he is, he's up in our dormitory crying because he doesn't understand why you're mad at him and quite frankly, I don't understand why you're mad at him either."

"Why am I mad at him?" Hermione asked in disbelief. "Why am I mad at him?" she said again as if not understanding Harry's question. "He practically threw himself at that bitch. I mean, I don't think Stephanie is a bitch, but when she kissed Ron, he looked like he would jump into her arms. It was like I wasn't even there, Harry."

"Hermione," Harry started again. "Ron did what any other guy, myself included, would've done. It's not like Stephanie kissed him on the lips. It was just a peck on the cheek from what Ron told me. He loves you Hermione, but he's not going to act as if other girls don't exist, especially when one kisses him for being the nice guy that he is."

"I know," Hermione consented. "It's just that ever since you and Cho go together, you've had the perfect relationship."

Harry laughed out loud. "Perfect?" he said. "You must be joking. Sure, we love each other, but we had to face each other for the Quidditch Cup yesterday and nearly killed each other trying to get it. That's hardly perfect, Hermione."

"I guess you're right," she said. "I just feel like Ron and I are not going to have the kind of relationship that you and Cho have."

Harry thought about his response to this before saying it. "Hermione, one of the greatest wizards of our time has told the both of us that our respective relationships are true love. Now, I don't know about you, but if Dumbledore told me anything, I'd be inclined to believe him. True love is the pinnacle of relationships. There are millions of people, wizard and muggle alike who want what I have with Cho and what you have with Ron. I told this to Ron, just because you are with your true love, doesn't mean that you won't fight. It's part of being together, but more importantly, it's part of being seventeen. We're not grown up yet, and we're not perfect. Things will come up like this, maybe even worse, but because Ron is your true love, you'll work it out."

Hermione sat quietly for a minute, digesting all that Harry had just said. Then all of a sudden she burst into tears again.

"Now, what's wrong?" Harry asked.

"I'm so stupid," Hermione sobbed.

"You know that's not the truth. You're the smartest person I know that's our age. Just because you made a mistake that everyone makes more than once in their life doesn't mean you're stupid."
"You're right, Harry," Hermione said. "But what am I going to do?"

"Just talk to him," Harry replied. "Look, he's probably still up in our dormitory so when we get back to the common room, just wait there and I'll send him down. I'm positive you'll be able to work things out."

"Thank you, Harry," Hermione said and gave him a hug. "You're a real friend."

"You doubted this?" Harry asked and they shared a laugh as they got up to go back to the castle
Harry and Hermione made their way back to the Gryffindor common room rather quickly. The common room was still as deserted as it was when Harry had first returned from the hospital wing that morning.

"Just go sit on the couch and I'll see if Ron is still up in the dormitory," Harry said and Hermione nodded and sat down where Harry told her to.

Harry walked up the stairs to his dormitory a quietly pushed open the door. Ron was still sitting on the edge of his bed. He wasn't crying at that moment but his eyes were red and Harry could tell that he had wept more after Harry had left to find Hermione.

"Hey, mate," said Ron trying to sound cheerful but failing. "I found my parchment." Ron showed Harry the roll of parchment clutched in his right hand. "It was under my broomstick." Ron managed a weak laugh.

Harry chuckled along with him. "That's good, Ron," said Harry. There was a large pause before Harry said, "She's down there, in the common room. Go talk to her."

Ron blanched. "What should I say?" he asked nervously. "Just say what's in your heart, mate," Harry said. "That's all you can do. Don't be phony. Just be the Ron that you know she loves."

Ron sighed heavily. "Right," he said mustering up his courage and standing. "What are you going to do?"

"Potions," Harry answered. "Now, stop stalling. You'll be fine."

Ron sighed again and looked worriedly at Harry. Harry nodded and Ron took this to mean. 'Just go down there you git." Ron sighed one last time and then marched out of the room and onto the staircase

Once he got onto the stairs, however, Ron froze. How was he going to do this? He had never dealt with anything like this before. He and Hermione had never had a fight since they started dating in January. He then felt a strange sense of power come over him. He could do this. He didn't know how, but he knew he could.

Ron then moved slowly down the stone stairs, still nervous. His mind was still racing as to how he was going to make things right between him and Hermione. After what seemed like an eternity, Ron completed his decent of the stairs. As he reached the common room, he saw a familiar face looking at him. Despite her eyes being red and her face tearstained, she was still the most beautiful person Ron had ever layed his eyes on.

Upon seeing that it was indeed Ron who had entered the common room, Hermione leaped up from where she was sitting and ran over to Ron and gave him a huge hug. This took Ron completely aback but after a couple seconds he hugged Hermione back. Ron could feel Hermione sobbing against his shoulder but he didn't care. He, too, felt more tears welling up in his eyes but he kept them back.

After a little while, Hermione pulled away from Ron and, with tears still flowing down her cheeks, looked up at him and said, "Ron, I'm so sorry."

Ron looked at her in disbelief. "Why should you be sorry?" he asked. "I was the one at fault."

Hermione shook her head. "No, Ron, I was," she replied. "I should've realized that you're still a teenager. I was being too controlling."

"Hermione, it's not your fault," Ron said. "I should've been more sensitive to the fact that you were there."

When Ron said this, Hermione felt as though she wanted to slap him and kiss him at the same time. Instead she said, "Ron, we could stand here and blame ourselves for what happened, but that isn't going to accomplish anything."

"You're right," Ron said and pulled Hermione into another tight hug. Shortly thereafter, he pulled her slightly away so that he could look into her eyes and said, "I love you, Hermione. I'll love you until the day I die."

"Me too, Ron," Hermione said. "Me too."

Ron then pulled Hermione back in and kissed her on the lips. During the kiss, Ron couldn't help but let the tears he had been holding back flow freely, mixing with Hermione's. Some tears even managed to find their way into the mouths of Ron and Hermione causing a salty taste that neither of the two seventeen year olds seemed to mind. After a good twenty minutes of making out, they broke their kiss but they didn't want to let go of one another just yet so they kept their embrace for a while longer.

"You know," Ron whispered into Hermione's ear. "That whole fight was totally worth it."

Hermione pulled slightly away from Ron so that she could see his tearstained face, "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Ron said. "That this whole thing just made me feel closer to you. Our first fight and I think I'm more in love with you then I ever have been before."

"I know what you mean, Ronny," Hermione said. "You're the only person for me. I want to be with you forever."

Ron couldn't think of a verbal response to this so he pulled Hermione in another embrace before pushing away when he thought of the perfect response. "Forever isn't long enough."

"Good line, mate," came a voice. "I'll have to remember that one." It was Harry.

"Do you mind?!" Hermione and Ron shouted in perfect unison.

"Sorry," Harry said. "I figured if I gave you half an hour then you'd be done."

"Half an hour?" Ron said. "It didn't seem that long to me."

"To me either," said Hermione. "Are you sure, Harry?"

"Positive," Harry replied. "It was long enough for me to finish up my potions. All I have now is charms but that's not due 'till Wednesday besides it's really easy."

"Easy for you," Ron said, his arms still around Hermione's waist.

Harry and Hermione both laughed. "Well, it's good to see the two of you worked things out. Also good to see that you worked things out without drawing a crowd."

Indeed, the common room was still empty aside from Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"You know," Ron said to Hermione. "It's a beautiful day outside and there's only a certain amount of daylight left. What say we go out by the lake?"

"Sounds like a great idea," Harry said, "but I think you should be asking Hermione."

"I was," Ron said slightly put off.

"I know," Harry laughed. "Besides, I have my own date I have to get ready for. You two go on and have a great time."

Ron and Hermione laughed with Harry before the two headed out of the common room hand in hand. They both turned before leaving and said, "Thanks" in unison to Harry.

Harry smiled and he turned around and went back up the stairs to his dormitory. Once there, he put all of his potions stuff away and layed down on his bed and looked at his watch. It said 4 45 p.m. Still more than an hour until dinner would be served so he got out Hogwarts: A History and thumbed to the back of the book where, to his surprise, he found information about the Tri-Wizard Tournament that had happened just two years ago. "Weird," he said aloud. He found it unnerving to be reading about himself so he went back to the middle of the book and read about the Quidditch Cup controversy of 1872. The Hufflepuff keeper had made it so that the Quaffle would always miss when thrown at the two outside hoops. 'So,' Harry thought. 'Slytherin isn't the only house that does bad things.'

Harry put the book down at about five minutes until six, when the Sunday dinner would be served. He looked out his window and noticed some wild daffodils growing on the grounds. "Accio Daffodils," he said with his wand raised as the daffodils floated up to his outstretched hand. Cho would like these. He put them on his nightstand and then headed down to the Great Hall.

A/N: Well, that's the end of Chapter 9. I hope you liked it, especially you R/Hr shippers out there. This chapter was for you. Don't worry though, the H/C will be back in full force for the next chapter. Please, please, please review. It's for everyone's good. I don't know if I'll have Chapter 10 up before I go to camp. If not, it'll be up sometime after Independence Day. I hope to have it up before then though. I still have no idea how far I'm going to go with this so just bear with me. REVIEW!