Waaah! I finished all my responses to your reviews and my computer froze! Go figure. Anyway, here I go again... Thank you all for being so patient with me! I know it took me forever to get this chapter out. Actually, I took over a week to write out the chapter, but found the whole process painful, and besides, I didn't like the chapter at all. So guess what? I erased it and sat down to rewrite it, following a completely different plotline and with the perspectives of different characters. And wonders of wonders, I'm actually satisfied!
Geez, I couldn't believe how many of you predicted what was going to happen. Really, I'm not that cliched, am I?
Okay, so much love to: Nightwing509, WhippyBird, The Shadow of Sora, Oliana Walden, Rebekahek623, sweethoneyno1, LunaLovegood2, SailorMoonCrystal15, mary-v, The Vampire Story Hunter, Ronnies Gurl, The Forest Ranger, Crookshankx, LadyVoldything, onesmartgoalie, Black Cherrie, iloveharry, Chantal J, blank-cd, WhyDoYouCare36, A Harry and Ginny Dreamer (I LOVE YOU TOO, lol), Stella, Ginny Potter/ 'Mione Weasley!!, Crystal, hry pttr, CarissaLynn, HGandRHrforever, Dbish403, paigemadden, Tweek's Panda (HAPPY BELATED SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY!!!), Sparrow Greenleaf, Heather, Elvengirl9, Hedwig923, BAce, Rose Red18, BrownPryde, Obs3ssi0n, Cobalt45, Titanic-HarryPotter-lvr-2, Kallan Myers, She-Who-Snogs-Weaesly-Boys, potterchica02, sleepy-zzz, Goldilocks31890, obsessed87, Sweet-Oklahoma, lightprincess, transcendantporcupine, crazykool, griffin14, SaSush3, and Luv Lexi! Thank you so much! Mind you, if I had the time, I would write out an individual message to each and every one of you, but alas, I have not the time. And I have a feeling you'd rather see the chapter anyway!
CherryBlossom08- I'M SO SORRY! I really am... I had no idea I had forgotten you! Please please accept my public apology! And rest assured, I will never do it again! NEVER. Anyway, I love you much, and here is the next chapter, which will hopefully lift your grudge against me a bit.
Click La Magnifique- Oh, I didn't understand you last time! Yes, please, I'd love it if you translated my fic into French! In fact, I'd be so honored... Well thank you for reading my fic and taking the time to review! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Tru Lys- I LOVE YOU. Thank you so much for continually reviewing my story; you rock! Hmm, well this is the last chapter, so hopefully your sister won't hate me as much =P. I'll miss your reviews dearly, but hopefully I'll write another story soon and you can review that one.
Kingmaker- Well you are correct, the end is near. In fact, if you scroll down to the bottom of this page, you will find the words "the end", lovely and bolded. Thank you for reviewing my story; it was much appreciated! You rock!!! Here is the last chapter- hope you enjoy!
Rayah Papaya- Yay, my fellow schoolgirl! Thank you for your review! Hmm, well, I'm glad you found the last chapter fun- I did too! Although I found it a bit awkward, but hey, crushes are indeed awkward little things. Anyways, enjoy this chapter!
JamieBell- You were right about what happened! ... Kind of, anyway. I seriously considered putting in the floating apple blossoms, but decided against it =P. Anways, thanks for all your support, and btw, your recent stories were loads of fun to read! Geez, I'm such a sucker for fluff.
Alexandrea- LOL. Your review totally cracked me up. Can you just imagine some boy sweeping you off your feet and saying, quite dramatically, "You are okay, my little lovemuffin!" Haha!!! Goodness. Seriously, that's going to be my "pickup line" from now on (only on boys who won't think I'm insane). Thank you much for your review, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Amanda- I don't mean to be cruel, lol. But here is the chapter that you've been waiting for! So you don't have to kill me now... haha. Anyway, thanks for taking those two hours to read my story and review (even if it was only to threaten me... I found that rather amusing). Thanks thanks thanks! Hopefully you like this chapter!
Flora13- Thank you so much for your SUPER long review! It made my day =). Anyway, I'm terribly flattered that you actually took the time to read this all, and I hope you like this next chapter. Also, I'm glad you didn't find my writing too American. I mean, I tried, but I wasn't really sure. It's one of those things you can't really shake, you know? Like my California accent for example, which I didn't even know existed. Thank you again, and enjoy!
Thank you so much to all my reviewers! You guys have no idea what your reviews mean to me; I literally run to my computer daily to check my email, and when I read your reviews, it never fails to bring a smile to my face! So thank you much, and I hope you enoy this chapter!
She was falling.
It was a strange sensation, both altogether unsettling yet exhilarating. She could not help but suck in a deep breath, surprised as she realized that her broom had escaped her grip and was now spiraling down towards the lawn.
She didn't feel panicked, not the way she thought she would.
In fact, it all seemed rather surreal.
Looking down, she was shocked to see that she was approaching the ground at an incomprehensible speed.
Thump!
She landed roughly, gasping as the impact caused her head to jerk backwards.
No! She thought in a panic, completely irrational for once. Mum will be so upset if I die before cleaning my room...
And with that, the back of her head thudded against something hard and all went black.
"Hermione!" Ron cried out, horrified as he zoomed down and dismounted his broom, kneeling beside the unconscious girl's form.
He shook her shoulders gently, but unsurprisingly, she didn't stir.
For some reason, he was tempted to wail aloud, "My one true love has died!" in a highly dramatized fashion (flailing of arms and all), but decided against it for two reasons: 1. Hermione was obviously NOT dead, and 2. If anyone saw, he'd never hear the end of it. So instead, he sat for a moment in distress, unsure of what to do.
Fortunately, at that same moment, the side door of the Burrow burst open and a flushed Ginny and Harry ran towards him.
"We saw her fall," Ginny explained, out of breath. "Is she alright?"
Harry rushed over as well, looking down at Hermione with a worried expression. "We should get her inside," he muttered.
Both Ginny and Ron nodded in reply, and without a word, Harry and Ron quickly lifted Hermione up gently and began carrying her into the house. Once inside, they unceremoniously dumped her onto the couch in the living room and stared expectantly at her.
Ginny, who had followed them inside, pushed to the front and huffed in frustration. "Don't just stand there, you two!" she commanded in a way that was disturbingly like Hermione. "Now," she knelt by Hermione in a very businesslike manner. "Let's hope she's not bleeding."
Lifting up Hermione's head and softly parting her bushy hair, Ginny let out a sigh of relief when she saw that Hermione was, indeed, not bleeding. "What happened, Ron?" she asked, looking up at her brother.
He shifted from foot to foot, biting his lip guiltily. "Well we were flying..."
"That much is obvious," Ginny snapped. "Now go on."
"We were flying and all of a sudden she just fell," he shrugged his shoulders, bewildered. "I don't know what happened, but she just fell. She hit the ground and then her head hit a rock, and," he gestured at the girl lying peacefully on the couch, "here she is."
They looked at her uneasily, unsure of what to do.
"I suppose," Harry said finally, breaking the silence. "That we should wait for her to wake up."
Ginny nodded her head in agreement and stood up, shuffling over to Harry's side.
Ron however, seemed less convinced. "Right," he muttered, kneeling beside Hermione, reluctant to leave her.
Harry and Ginny exchanged looks and both slowly walked out of the room.
"Ron," Ginny said softly over her shoulder. "Why don't you stay here and watch her?"
He nodded in reply, smirking as he turned back to Hermione. He may have been distraught, but he had definitely noticed the proximity between Harry and Ginny. And now they had scurried out of the room together.
Five minutes passed, and although he hated to admit it, Ron was bored.
He couldn't help feeling a bit guilty; I mean, Hermione was unconscious, and he should really have been watching her every breath with fascination, thanking Merlin that she was still breathing.
But really, he could only do that for so long.
"Hi," he said to Hermione, who didn't respond.
Oh really, this was pathetic. He wasn't really going to talk to well, himself, was he?
Ah, what the heck.
"Anyways, you just fell."
Brilliant conversationalist you turned out to be.
"Hopefully you'll be up and about in no time," he continued awkwardly. "Err, you know, I'm sorry I let you fall. Although," he managed to grin, "I highly doubt that blow to the head lowered your intelligence in any way at all."
He poked at her arm hopefully, sighing when she still didn't move.
Shifting restlessly, he continued with his one-sided conversation. "I'm glad you tried flying," he said earnestly. "Hopefully you won't give up after this. I know you won't, though. Failure doesn't scare you, does it?" he scratched his head. "I wish I could be like that. But anyway, I know because you never give up. Even with that ridiculous SPEW nonsense, which was incredibly unsuccessful. I think the house elves hated you for that," he grinned. "But you really didn't give up. You just kept knitting those lumpy clothes and left them around."
He fell into silence.
"You know, I admire you for that," he finally said. "I think I always have. Even in first year, when I hated you. I don't think I really hated you," he added, scratching his head in confusion. "Wow," he laughed to himself. "This is weird. Anyway, even though you can be a bit stubborn at times, and you're a bit psychotic when it comes to schoolwork, I really do like you. A lot, even," he breathed out, slowly, "As more than a friend."
Looking at Hermione, Ron sighed.
"Funny how it's so much easier to say it when you can't hear me," he muttered to himself.
Watching her expression, he sighed again when it didn't change at all.
She had obviously not heard.
Meanwhile, Harry and Ginny were delightedly chattering away upstairs.
"Poor Hermione," Harry lamented, sighing.
"Well obviously," Ginny stated, "It's terrible that she fell, but this will definitely bring those two together."
"You're right!" Harry agreed. "Our matchmaking efforts had to have worked at least a bit."
"I mean," she gave him a coy smile, "Their efforts certainly worked with us, didn't they?"
He blushed, but grinned nevertheless. "They worked very well," he murmured in reply, leaning over to peck her on the lips.
Flushed, she squealed, smiling dazzlingly at him in reply. Then, impulsively, she launched herself at him, landing happily in his lap and proceeding, unabashed, to snuggling against his chest.
She sighed happily. "I'm comfortable here," she proclaimed to a very pleasantly surprised Harry. "You know what?" she winked. "I hereby claim this lap as mine."
"Really?" he managed to raise an eyebrow before snaking an arm around her waist and pulling her closer. "I was under the assumption that this was my lap," he added quickly, "Not that I want you to leave."
She tilted her face up to look at him, her eyes sparkling mischievously. "How about," she whispered, leaning in closer, "You convince me that I'm wanted here."
Harry grinned as he whispered into ear, "I could certainly try."
Unsurprisingly, Hermione's predicament was soon forgotten.
In the living room, Hermione blinked her eyes open, confused as she stared up at the ceiling. "Where am I?" she muttered, lifting her head up and immediately wincing.
"You're awake!" Ron cried out, peering down at her face.
She winced again at his voice, which seemed to be unusually loud and booming.
"Be quiet," she muttered, burying her face into the sofa cushion. "My head hurts."
"Oh sorry," he whispered, looking so remorseful that she immediately felt bad.
"What happened?" she asked, becoming increasingly aware of a throbbing pain at the back of her head.
He bit his lip nervously. "Well you were flying, you see," he explained, looking rather guilty, "And all of a sudden you fell off your broom. And you also hit your head on a rock."
"Oh." She racked her brain and came across a blurry memory of her broom spiraling towards the ground. "Well that makes sense."
"I'm sorry," he said, sounding so sincere that it stopped her train of thought.
She managed to turn her head to stare at him, knelt beside the sofa, biting his lip and scratching his head nervously. "Why?" she asked, bewildered. "What'd you do?"
She searched her memory again.
He had joined forces with the lawn gnomes and thrown giant vegetables to make her fall off her broom!
No wait.
That had been a recurring nightmare from a couple years back.
"I should've watched out for you," he explained, looking even more forlorn. "I should've stopped your fall."
He was being such a gentleman! He was growing up! He was taking the blame for things!
She sniffled, tearing up.
"No, wait!" Ron stared at her, alarmed. "Don't cry! I'm sorry for," he shrugged desperately, "Everything I've ever done wrong!"
She shook her head furiously, ignoring the throbbing pain that accompanied each shake. "They're happy tears," she finally managed to say, smiling shakily at Ron.
Ron was terribly, terribly confused.
One minute, the girl was unconscious, the next, she was cranky, and then she was crying. And now she had just told him that she was crying tears of joy? Did falling off a broom and hitting one's head on a rock generally make one that, well, happy? Was this normal?
"Are you alright?" he asked tentatively, looking at her worriedly. "Do you know who I am?"
She blinked at him in confusion. "You're Ron," she replied, giving him a strange look. "Why would you even ask me that?"
"And," he continued slowly, as if talking to an infant, "Do you remember what your name is?"
She blinked at him again, unsure of how to reply to that. Finally, she just made a frustrated sound and rolled her eyes. "Honestly Ron, I'm not brain damaged, alright? I can remember everything perfectly. Stop acting like I'm a toddler."
Ron smiled.
Well, at least she was back to normal.
"I'm glad you're alright," he stated simply.
She smiled in reply, but frowned when the throbbing of her head increased. "Do you have anything for headaches?"
"Oh yeah." He stood up, disappearing into the kitchen for a few minutes.
He reemerged with a grin and a small jar and a spoon in his hands. "I found it," he announced, holding up the jar for her to see. "You take two teaspoons and you should be headache-free for a week."
"Great," she mumbled in reply. "I hope the effects are instantaneous."
He knelt down beside her, opening the jar and carefully measuring out one teaspoon. "Say 'ah'," he coaxed gently.
She rolled her eyes, but opened her mouth obediently to swallow down the liquid.
Making a face, she giggled. "Yuck," she pursed her lips together. "That was horrid. Worse than polyjuice potion even!"
He chuckled in reply, already holding out the second teaspoon. "Yeah," he replied as she opened her mouth again (although a bit reluctantly), "But I'm sure it has better results."
Recalling the disastrous effects of the one time she had tried polyjuice potion, Hermione blushed.
"Aww," he teased, noticing her embarrassment. "It wasn't that bad. I mean, at least you didn't have to turn into one of Malfoy's bumbling cronies."
"Right," she pouted, sitting up as her head immediately stopped throbbing. "Because being a furry beast was so much more pleasant."
"You were a cute cat," he teased, putting the jar and spoon on the coffee table nearby.
She blushed again, lowering her eyes. "...Right," she mumbled, reddening.
They sat in silence for several moments, each apparently finding the floor very interesting.
"You really were," Ron finally said lamely.
They both blushed deeply.
"Thanks," Hermione murmured in reply, lifting her eyes slightly to look at him hopefully.
"Um," he looked back at her nervously. "Do you think you'll continue flying?"
Disappointed, she nodded. "Of course. I still need to master it," she flashed a grin at him, "And be better than you."
Instead of an angry retort, Ron simply chuckled, smiling at her in a way that she found incredibly disconcerting. "Yeah," he nodded, looking at her admiringly. "I knew you would."
Smiling uncertainly at his strange reaction, she looked at him imploringly. "You'll still teach me, won't you?"
Looking at her wide-eyed, attentive face, he had to chuckle again. "Look at you," he remarked fondly, "Always eager to learn, aren't you?" She frowned at his response.
Really, he was acting so strangely, so puzzlingly.
And although she hated to admit it, she was confused.
And she hated it.
"What's wrong with you?" she snapped, sounding a bit harsher than she meant to.
"What do you mean?" he asked, surprised at her outburst.
"You're being so," she shook her head, confused, "You're not ignoring me, and you're not trying to aggravate me, and you're just being different."
She stared at him, still frowning slightly.
"I do not ignore you!" he protested, now frowning himself. "And I don't aggravate you, well at least not purposely."
"You do too ignore me!" she retorted and immediately felt embarrassed by how much she sounded like an attention-seeking child.
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
They glared at each other, the amiability of the moments before forgotten in their immature spat.
Hermione pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.
Ron glared back at her. "I was just being nice to you and you just started accusing me of all these things," he said resentfully.
"I was-" she opened her mouth to defend herself, but closed it in defeat as she realized that he was right. "I'm sorry," she mumbled sullenly. "I didn't mean to."
He was surprised that she had actually apologized, but he nodded, unsure of what to say. "Well," he said awkwardly, "I'm sorry too. If I ever ignored or aggravated you, that is."
"You do," she muttered quietly, but loud enough for him to hear.
"Hey!" he complained. "I do not!"
"Oh let's not go through this again," Hermione sighed.
They sat awkwardly for a few minutes, each unwilling to give in.
Finally, Ron cracked a small smile at her. "Let's forget about that, alright?"
She smiled back, looking a bit ashamed. "Yes. We were acting incredibly immature, weren't we?"
He nodded solemnly. "Incredibly so."
Unexpectedly, Hermione threw her arms around his neck, hugging him. "Thanks, Ron," she mumbled into his shoulder, "And I'm sorry I was being stupid when you were being nice to me."
He was blushing, but he still managed to reply as he tentatively patted her back. "Err," he stammered, "It's okay."
Pulling back, she smiled at him.
He reddened even more as he realized that her face was well, rather close to his.
And then, impulsively, she leaned in and pecked him on the cheek. Drawing back, she whispered, "You're really a wonderful friend, Ron."
Ron was red, very, very, very red. And his mouth was dry and he was terribly nervous.
This was not a pleasant sensation.
On seeing his wide-eyed, startled look, Hermione bit her lip worriedly. "Ron," she asked, leaning in closer to observe him. "Are you alright?"
And she couldn't have been more surprised when he simply leaned towards her and brought his lips down on hers.
Nor could she have been more delighted.
When he drew away, they were both blushing furiously.
"I've really wanted to do that for a while," he whispered in awe.
"Well Ron..." Hermione pursed her lips together, her expression a strange one he had never seen before.
He gulped nervously, preparing himself for her rage.
But instead, she smiled shyly and pressed her lips to his after whispering, "...So have I."
Fred and George stood on the roof, looking down at the two happy couples snuggling on the lawn as they stargazed.
"You know," Fred remarked, "I think this all turned out quite well."
George nodded in agreement. "I may not like Ginny dating, but I have to admit," he said rather grudgingly, "That Harry isn't so bad."
"And if he hurts her," Fred grinned, "We can always find ways of torturing him."
They lapsed into silence for a moment, both imagining methods of torture for all of Ginny's potential boyfriends.
"Anyway," George finally commented, "Ron and Hermione turned out well."
"Finally!" Fred groaned, rolling his eyes. "It took them far too long."
"Well," George grinned mischievously, "Shall we give them a little hooray?"
And down below, four pairs of eyes widened in awe as a shower of sparks exploded in the sky, fiery shapes zooming about in the sky above them.
"Magic," the twins whispered before climbing back in through their window.
And had you asked any of the four teenagers lying on the grass below, they would've responded that yes, without a doubt, it had been a truly magical summer.
The End