"Mione, stop shoving me!" Ron exclaimed, as his mocha haired friend tried to make her way to the front of the ship.
"But your taller then I am, I should be in front of you." She complained. Ron sighed and moved over so she could stand in front of him. "The view is gorgeous, don't you think."
"Absolutely." Ron replied his gaze on Hermione.
"Do you see the Statue of Liberty? It was unveiled in 1886, a gift from the French. Can you imagine climbing all 354 steps to the top?" She gushed, looking back at Ron. Her faced blushed as she said, "Oh, sorry to bore you with all of this information."
"No, no, it's alright, that was interesting, honestly!" Ron replied instantly, flashing her a smile.
"Whoa!" Hermione screamed, as the ship lurched into harbor. Ron quickly grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close to his body. "Thanks." Hermione whispered breathlessly.
"Anytime." Ron answered.
"Hey Harry, look at the Statue!" Ginny exclaimed from Ron's right. He silently wished his sister hadn't been allowed to go to New York with them.
"Cool." Harry said, looking out at the tiny island.
"So Hermione," Ginny started. "Where's our hotel?"
"Well, mum and dad got a good one, just a block away from the Metropolitan Museum of Art!" Hermione said, her face lighting up.
"Hermione!" Mrs. Granger called down from the upper deck. "It's time to leave. We've got to get our bags and go to the hotel!"
"I'll race you." Ginny said to Harry. He nodded and they took off towards the stairs.
"Ron, we should be going." Hermione said, tugging at his arm around her waist. He released her and took her hand.
"Just so I'll be able to catch you, should you happen to fall." He explained.
"I'm glad you'll be there to catch me." She replied.
"Always." Ron answered, blushing as they went to the cabins.
It didn't take the large group to get from the docks to their hotel, despite the Grangers massive luggage bags. After they hauled their bags up three flights (the lift was broken) Hermione's parents decided to take them sight seeing.
"So where should we go first?" Mrs. Granger asked, looking at Hermione expectedly. Instead of her daughter, Ron answered.
"How about the Met? Hermione said it was only a couple blocks away, right?" Ron tried his best to ignore Harry's slackened jaw and concentrate on everyone else.
"That sounds like a plan." Mr. Granger said. "Why don't you kids go along? I'm going to stay here and sort out this mess." Mrs. Granger nodded at her husband and led the teenagers out of the suite. Once downstairs, they decided that it wouldn't hurt to walk the blocks to the museum, with a little convincing on Hermione's part. "Mum, it'll be an hour before we get there by taxi, honestly!"
"Hmm," Mrs. Granger said, once they entered the museum. "It's quite larger then I expected, where to start?"
"I want to see the Muggle baseball cards. Bill said they were like Chocolate Frog cards, only with more information." Ron spoke up.
"I'd like to see the Egyptian exhibit. I heard it's quite extensive." Hermione contributed.
Harry and Ginny were content on wandering around the museum with Hermione's mom, so they decided to split up, seeing as Mrs. Granger was going to the Victorian exhibit and it was not ever close to the Egyptian (which was next to Ron's baseball exhibit.) "Meet back here in one hour, got it?" Mrs. Granger said, pointing at her watch. She took Harry and Ginny and headed towards the lift to her right.
"Ready?" Hermione asked, taking Ron's hand. "Let's not get separated, eh?" They made their way through the crowd of people, talking softly and making jokes about some of the odd things that they saw.
"Look, that guy's wearing a muumuu, like Archie at the World Cup, you remember? The chap who liked the wind 'round his privates?" Ron laughed. He watched Hermione's face go from embarrassed shock to giggles.
"Oh lord, that hat looks exactly like the retched one Neville's grandmother wears!" she later said, in a horrified voice.
"They made two of those? What were they thinking?" Ron replied as they entered the card exhibit. Ron did a thorough inspection of the room before declaring it, 'unjustly boring.' He quickly steered Hermione to the Egyptian room.
"This is amazing!" Hermione said stunned. "Was this how it was when you went to Egypt?" she asked Ron.
"Yeah, but there was much more sand." He joked.
"I could stay in here forever!" she exclaimed. Ron tugged at her arm and replied, "Unfortunately, we have to go now, or we'll be late." She reluctantly followed him to the front of the building to wait for her mother. While they waited, Ron decided to finally show some of his Gryffindor courage.
"So how is your Durmstrang honey doing?" he asked, knowing it would rile her.
"I don't see why you'd care." She napped in resentment, folding her arms over her chest. She turned her back to him and refused to look at his face.
"I care, because I do. That's just it, I care about you, and he doesn't deserve you." Ron rushed, barely breathing as he placed a hand on her arm.
"What?" she asked, looking him in the eyes.
"He doesn't deserve you. I mean, look at you, gorgeous, smart, clever, you're perfect." Ron gulped and stared at the floor.
"Ron..." Hermione started.
"Hey guys!" Mrs. Granger called, waving. Ron and Hermione looked up and saw Harry and Ginny standing next to the dentist. They made their way over to the trio, as Hermione whispered, "We'll talk later." Once reunited, the gang headed back to their hotel, with Harry and Ginny telling their silent friends about Victorian exhibits.
"Why don't you kids get ready for dinner, and we'll get ready for the big ball dropping." Mr. Granger said when they reached the flat. Hermione tried to give Ron a look, but he was already halfway to his and Harry's bedroom by the time she got a good glimpse of him. Once he was alone with Harry, Ron shut the door and collapsed on the bed.
"I've ruined it Harry. I've finally crossed the line, she's never going to forgive me." He complained to his best friend. Harry sat down on the edge of the bed and asked Ron what he'd done. "I told her that I cared about her and Viktor Krum wasn't good enough for her. What's she going to think? That I think I'm better then he is? I think I've lost her."
"Nothing is lost until you give up on it, Ron." Harry said wisely. "You taught me that. Game after game you struggled, a little less each time, but you never gave up and now you're a game-winning keeper. Trust me mate, she feels the same way."
"Yeah, about Krum. I've noticed how she defends him."
"Let me tell you something Lavender told me. Girls like to keep their guy on their toes, keep him jealous enough to keep caring. A little jealously keeps the man to your side, I believe are her exact words." Harry explained.
"You think she's been using Krum as a tool?" Ron asked incredulously. He looked at Harry suspiciously, sitting up on his bed as he listened to Harry.
"Look Ron, I'm not expert, but I've never seen her look at him the way she looks at you." Harry said, opening the door and leaving Ron to think. Harry bumped into Ginny, who was coming out of her shared room with Hermione.
"Let me guess." Ginny started, but Harry cut her off.
"Ron made a snip comment about Krum, Hermione got ticked, and Ron confessed some of his feelings for her in a rushed mess?"
"Right. Just making sure we're on the same page here." Ginny smiled. She and Harry sat down on the couch in front of the kitchen. "How is it everyone else can see it, and they can't?"
"I don't know, but if they don't get together soon, I think the stress is going to kill us." Harry laughed.
The following day, after spending a tense dinner with Hermione's parents, the group of teens and Mrs. Granger decided to spend the first half of their day at Central Park. It was mid-afternoon when the got there, with Mrs. Granger paying the taxi driver angrily and yelling about traffic laws. Turning to the shocked kids, she quickly composed herself and apologized.
"It's alright mum, that man was a total lunatic." Hermione said earnestly.
"Complete nutter if I ever saw one." Ginny joined in. The boys nodded as they headed through the bustling park towards the zoo. Despite the cold weather most of the exhibits were still running, with the exception of the reptile room, which Harry really didn't want to see anyway. He hadn't told anyone except for Ginny about the full details of his first encounter with the zoo, and he didn't feel like going into story mode at the moment.
They spent three hours at the park, wandering around and looking at all the different people. (Ginny and Hermione's favorite person was the old man selling balloon animals on sticks, causing the boys to buy them each one.) It wasn't until 5 o'clock that Mrs. Granger shoved them all in a taxi and they began their harrowing ride to the hotel.
It wasn't until dinner that night that Ron and Hermione saw each other again. Ron had changed into a navy blue jumper, throwing his old cappuccino colored jacket over his shoulders, while Hermione had just pulled a grey hoodie over her shirt, cutting some thumbholes like she'd seen some Muggles wearing earlier. She actually thought the idea was genius, getting warm and still having the ability of opposable thumbs. The Grangers hurried them over to a café near Times' Square. Ron and Harry were astounded by the buffet, which came on tiny plates that you picked up and carried off.
"But how do they?" Harry asked.
"They count the plates and charge from that." Mr. Granger replied, taking another plate for himself. "Don't worry about it, we've got it covered kid." He laughed. The meal was over quickly, and the troupe headed to Times' Square to watch the ball drop. They barely made it, shoving their way to a place where they could watch the final countdown.
"Anybody want hot chocolate?" Mrs. Granger asked, holding out a thermos and some mugs. They each took one and waited their turn for it to be poured. Ron stared fascinatingly at how Hermione was holding her cup, right hand looped in the hand, left cupping the side by the brim. He longed to be the cup. In the background, he could hear the announcer start counting backwards from twenty, the crowd following him, but Ron was really only listening to Hermione.
"Twelve!" she excitingly said, shivering despite her cocoa. Ron took off his jacket and placed it around her arms, fitting it around her shoulders as the crowd shouted, "Three! Two! One!" In the corner of his eye he saw the silver disco ball drop.
"Ron..." she started again, but he silenced her by leaning down and placing a kiss lightly on her lips.
"Happy new year." He whispered. He wasn't aware that Harry was placing a kiss on Ginny's cheek, or that Hermione's parents were eyeing him knowingly, he was only aware of Hermione. He noted the snowflakes in her hair, how her eyes twinkled with delight and how peaceful she looked with her eyes closed and a small smile on her face. "I should have done that so long ago. Please forgive me."
"Only if you do it again." She grinning, standing on her toes to return the kiss swiftly. They stared at each other grinning stupidly until the Grangers decided to send them to the terminal.
"Now Hermione, I know this isn't your first flight, but it is your first one alone, and I want all of you to behave yourselves. It'll be a long flight, and you'll be going to the train station almost immediately. I believe your headmaster has set up transportation for you. Be good." Her mom said, kissing her on the top of the head. Hermione grabbed her backpack and ticket and joined her friends. They waved goodbye and handed the attendant their tickets.
"Ginny, do you plan on watching the in-flight video?" Hermione asked, trying to sort out seating arrangements.
"Not really," came the red-haired girls reply.
"Do you mind sitting with Harry then? He said he wasn't interested in it either." Hermione said, steering Ginny towards Harry.
"Oh heartbreak," Ginny muttered, sitting down next to the lightning scarred boy. They instantly grabbed for the blankets and began sleeping. Hermione took her seat across the row next to Ron. She pulled the blankets down from the overhead storage and placed them on Ron's lap.
"We need to talk." She said gravely. He gave her a hurt look and replied, "Are you going to break up with me before we even go out?"
Hermione's eyes got large and she quickly answered, "No! I just think we need to discuss us."
"I like that. Us. What a statement." Ron dreamily said. Hermione brought him back quickly by snapping her fingers in front of his face. "Oi?"
"What are we, Ron?"
"We're... us, unless you don't want to be. Then we are just you and me. You do want to, don't you?" his eyes pleaded at her heart.
"More than anything." She replied, laying her head on his shoulder. He put his arm around her shoulder and covered her with his blanket. "But Ron," she said, lifting her head up to look at his face. "What about when we get back to school?"
"Nothing changes." He firmly said, pulling her closer to him. She closed her eyes and smiled. 'Happy New Year,' she thought.