CommencementChap.10 con't...
After
the Commencement ceremony, everyone began to part ways and head back
to their respective houses to celebrate. After bidding goodbye to his
family, Ron returned to the Gryffindor Common Room with Hermione,
Harry, and Ginny in-tow. Once he entered the portrait hole, a huge
explosion of red and gold erupted around him.
"Brilliant,"
he said, observing all of the decorations. The common room was full
of people, most smiling, but some sad. Ron grabbed a butterbeer and
handed it to Hermione who took it gladly.
After several hours
of celebrating, people began filing out. Parvati and Lavender were
the first to leave with their trunks packed up. Tears were streaming
down their faces as they hugged everyone in the common room. Next
were Dean and Seamus, shaking hands with everyone and dragging their
trunks out of the room. Finally only Neville remained. He walked over
to the group smiling.
"I made it..." he said
happily.
"Of course you did Neville," said
Hermione.
Neville shifted uncomfortably in his spot, and then
said, "I just want to say thank you, to all of you. I know I
wasn't that much fun to have around sometimes..." It was true
that Neville had been quite the klutz, but he had also been brave
countless times, often risking his life to save one of them.
Ron
shook his head, "Neville, you've been a great friend, don't
think that way." Hermione and Harry agreed as Ron strode over to
the smaller man and put his arm around him in a brotherly way,
"What're you going to be doing now that we're out of
Hogwarts?"
Neville blushed at Ron's comment of him being
a great friend, "Well Gran said that she was happy that I had
graduated and would stand behind whatever I chose to do..."
Neville beamed for a moment, "Well, I really love herbology, so
I was thinking I'd take up a job in the Ministry of Magic, in the
Department of Protection and Research of Magical Plant-life."
Harry
smiled, "That'd be great Neville, and you'd get to see Ron, and
hopefully me, all the time!"
Neville smiled and nodded,
"Yeah, hopefully I'll get the job..."
After a few
more minutes of socializing, Neville bid goodbye to his fellow
Gryffindors and left the common room. Now only Ron, Hermione, Harry,
and Ginny remained.
Ginny looked up at Harry, "Well, it's
getting late..." She flung her arms around her boyfriend and
kissed him on the cheek. "Oh Harry...I'm going to miss you so
much..."
Harry smiled and said, "I'm going to miss
you too Ginny, but I'll be around..." He hugged her to him
tightly, "Just don't go and take up with someone else in my
absence."
Ginny laughed, "You either...no going and
falling in love with someone training to be an Auror..."
Harry
kissed her hair and said, "How can I fall in love with someone
else, when I'm already in love with you?"
Ron had looked
away from his sister and Harry to give them privacy, and leaned in
and whispered in Hermione's ear, "After they leave, I want you
to go upstairs and come back down in a half hour."
Hermione's
eyebrows furrowed in question, but she nodded. Ginny disappeared
upstairs after a few more kisses with Harry. Finally, Harry turned to
Ron and Hermione.
"You guys are my best friends--you're
like my brother and sister. I love you guys..." he said as he
walked towards them and hugged them. "I don't think I would've
made it out of Hogwarts alive without you both..."
Hermione
looked close to tears as she hugged Harry.
Harry stepped back
from the couple and said, "I'll be by the Burrow whenever my
training allows..." With a smile and a nod, he was
gone.
Hermione's cheeks were streaked with tears when she
turned to Ron.
"Hermione, why are you crying? Harry's
going to be fine--he'll be back before you know it..." said Ron
worriedly as he enclosed her in his arms.
"I know--"
she said, sobbing into his chest, "It's just that--well--we'll
no longer be around each other. All these years, it's always been us
three, and now--" she couldn't continue, as she was crying into
Ron's shirt.
Ron frowned down at her, "Hermione, whenever
I get a chance away from my ministry training, I'll be sure to
apparate here to visit you. And you can do the same, you know. As for
Harry, he'll be busy for a little while, but then he'll be free to
visit us. I know because dad told me about the training Aurors
undergo. So seriously--" he lifted her face with his hands, "No
crying."
Hermione sniffled, but acquiesced. After
wrapping her arms around Ron and holding onto him for several minutes
she let him go, her eyes no longer clouded in tears. "Alright,
half an hour..." she said as she headed upstairs to her old
dormitory.
Ron smiled as she disappeared from view.
Immediately he pulled out his wand and began tidying the wrecked
common room. 'Hermione'd be happy to know that no house-elves had
to do any work in here tonight,' thought Ron with a smirk. After
a bit of wand-waving Ron stood in the center to survey his work.
'Good and clean...now for the special touches...' he thought,
smiling to himself.
He said a charm that he had looked up
specifically for tonight. Immediately the room was transformed. The
ceiling, which was normally scarlet, had changed into a night sky
with millions of stars in it. Ron's mouth gaped open at his work,
"Wow," he muttered.
Another incantation, and there
were gold tinged flowers, as well as petals, all over the Common
Room. One more flick of his wand, and the lights in the room had
extinguished. Now there was only the roaring fire in the fireplace,
the enchanted night sky, and sweet-smelling flowers that glinted
gorgeously from the light of the fire. Ron sighed happily. It was
perfect, and Hermione was sure to love it. At least that's what he
hoped. He glanced down at his watch to find that he had finished with
five minutes to spare. He made his way to the couch where he sat,
nervously wringing his hands in anticipation of Hermione's
arrival.
"Oh my goodness!"
Ron's face lit up
and he turned to watch as Hermione took in the room.
"Ron!
Did you do this?!" she asked, amazed.
Ron nodded
sheepishly.
"I love it Ron!" she said as she threw
her arms around him and kissed him fervently on his lips. When she
pulled away she said, "But why Ron? I mean graduating was pretty
big--but this..." She bent down and picked up a flower.
Fingering it gently, her fingers lingering on the gold trim, Hermione
looked into Ron's face, waiting for a reply.
Ron coughed,
"Erm...well..." He looked around nervously, "Why don't
we sit down..." He led her to the couch by the fire, the one
where they'd sat multiple times before over the years.
Hermione
sat down, the flower still in her hands, her face questioning.
Ron
cleared his throat, "Hermione, today was a big day for us, being
graduated and everything." Hermione nodded, still puzzled.
"Well--" Ron swallowed, "I love you very much
Hermione."
"I love you too Ron," said Hermione
smiling.
Ron's face flushed as a wide grin broke onto his
face, "Well--see--I--I wanted you to see the common room like
this-well--because it's a really special place to me. Not only have
we spent almost every waking moment in here since our first year;
that is when we weren't off fighting someone evil," Ron
chuckled. "But this is where I knew."
Hermione
looked into Ron's eyes questioningly, "Knew what Ron?"
Ron
looked into Hermione's warm eyes, "This is where I knew that I
loved you."
Hermione looked bewildered. "But Ron,
you first said you loved me in the Infirmary, remember?"
Ron
chuckled softly, "Of course I remember." He caressed her
cheek with the back of his hand softly. "But this is where I
first realized, I loved you." Ron looked embarrassed for
a moment, "Remember our fourth year after the Yule Ball? When we
were arguing here?" Ron felt awkward mentioning a past argument
they'd had, since neither one of them ever spoke about past troubles
between them.
Hermione nodded, "Yeah, of course I
remember."
"Well, after you left and Harry and I had
retreated to our dormitory, I came back down after Harry had fallen
asleep. And I couldn't stop thinking about you--and how jealous I
was. And that's when I realized why I was so jealous. It was because
I'd fallen in love with you," said Ron seriously.
Hermione
smiled, "Wow Ron, I had no idea..."
Ron smiled, then
slipped off the couch, his knee touching the ground. He grabbed
Hermione's hands, which were still clutching the flower. "Hermione-
-"
Hermione's eyes grew wide as Ron knelt in front of
her, "Ron--what are you-- "
"Hermione, will you
marry me? I've never loved anyone but you--You're everything I've
ever wanted. You're the smartest person I know, the best- looking
witch I've ever laid eyes on," he said with a wink, "You're
determined, and you manage to amaze me everyday. I know I'm not much,
I'm not that smart or good-looking, and I'm not wealthy. But I
promise that if you say yes, I'll try my best to keep you happy and
safe, day in and day out." Ron finished, his blue eyes searching
Hermione's brown ones for some sort of reaction.
Hermione sat
in shock as Ron proposed marriage to her. She found that her heart
was pounding and a solitary tear had streaked down her cheek, which
Ron wiped away lovingly. "Hope I wasn't that bad..." he
said with a lop- sided grin. But his face grew worried when Hermione
did not answer. "Hermione--"
"Yes," she
said barely audible.
"Yes?" he asked, a smile
creeping into his face.
"Yes," she said firmly.
"Yes, I'll marry you Ron," said Hermione, smiling wide. She
threw her arms around him happily, toppling him to the floor. "I
love you Ron, more than anything," she said as she kissed him
passionately.
Ron tangled his hand in her hair, keeping her
mouth on his. "You had me worried for a second there..." he
muttered into her mouth.
Hermione pulled away slightly, "Did
you honestly think I'd say no?"
Ron looked bashful, his
cheeks glowing pink. "Well--it did take you a while."
Hermione
punched him in the arm lightly; "I was trying to transfix that
moment into my mind forever. Goodness, can't a girl be allowed to
revel in a moment a bit?"
Ron chuckled, "Sure, but
to leave her poor bloke of a boyfriend waiting nervously--"
Hermione
smiled, then led his face back towards hers, prohibiting him from
finishing his statement. After kissing for several minutes on the
carpet in front of the fireplace, the couple parted, breathing hard.
Hermione laid her head onto Ron's chest, his arm holding her tightly
to him. She closed her eyes, taking in the scent of him along with
all the flowers. She lay there, comfortable in his loving grasp,
hearing his steady heartbeat.
Ron smiled down at the top of
her head, his insides elated. Hermione had said 'Yes'. He grinned
wide at the recent memory. He moved his free hand, which hit the
flower that had been in Hermione's grasp. He picked it up gingerly,
bringing it to his nose for a sniff. He glanced down at Hermione,
whose breathing seemed to be steady, signaling that she had fallen
asleep. He placed the flower on his stomach, and with his free hand,
he tucked a piece of Hermione's hair behind her ear. With one last
sniff of the gold tinged flower, he gently tucked it in her hair,
happiness coursing through every fiber of his being as he looked up
into the enchanted night sky, imagining their future together.
