A/N: Take it to the house, take it to the house! What is up, my home snacks! Here: nothing, chillin at the Holidae Inn, threw it at me like I was a shawt stop. Never mind! Major props to cheese riot fow some big pimpin betaing. Ye-yah! What?! Oh-kay!

"Did it hurt anyone else?"

"No, she was the only one close to it."

"She's going to be ok?"

"They think so."

Someone was stroking my hair. My head hurt and my throat was aching. I could feel my eyes fluttering open.

"Hermione?" Ginny pulled my hair back from my face. "Hermione, are you awake?"

My eyes were completely open. I could see three figures standing in my room, but they were unfocused. Of course, two of the figures I knew so well, I didn't have to see them in focus.

"How do you feel, Hermione?" Harry asked, squatting down next to my bed.

I opened my mouth. "Ok." I hardly even heard myself. Luckily, the shapes were becoming sharper and I could make out the people much better.

The bed I was sleeping on was white, the room was white, and everything smelled clean. I looked toward the back of the room and saw a man in black standing there, looking extremely out of place.

I pointed at him. The only word I could come up with was "Who?"

"Oh, him?" Harry asked, motioning for the man to come forward. "I think I've mentioned him to you before. This is Colton Mosely—an auror for us, you know."

Colton waved his hand as a way of greeting. He was a very nice looking man, probably in his late twenties. He had dark hair and dark eyes covered in long lashes. I tried to study him a little more closely but my head began to hurt.

I was becoming able to form complete sentences though. "Why is Colton Mosely here?" I muttered.

"Er—when you're feeling a bit better, I just want to ask you a couple of questions," Colton explained. He had a very soothing voice too; it was nice to listen to.

I nodded, and looked toward Harry. I was trying to figure out what they were talking about. "Questions about what?"

"Maybe we should just leave her alone?" Ginny suggested, making a motion toward Harry's arm.

"No!" I shot up. My memory was starting to return. Something about Ron, there were men in black cloaks, and...Baker! "What happened to Baker?!"

Ginny took my hands. "She's fine, Hermione. As soon as those men left, they found her."

"Where was she?"

"Apparently, trapped in that mirror you smashed. That was a very smart thing to do, Miss Granger. Why did you do that?" Colton Mosely asked.

Harry put out his hand. "I don't think we should do this right--"

"Ron—Ron told me to," I mumbled. "He was hurt, but he yelled at me, and I smashed it. Where's Ron?"

"He's in the hospital here too. He's doing ok," Ginny said in a small voice.

"He is?"

Ginny nodded again. "He's mostly been sleeping. He talked to Baker. She's been staying with Mum."

"We'll leave you alone now, Hermione," Harry said.

"No, you won't," I said, my senses coming around. "You and Mr. Mosely here will explain what is going on."

Harry rolled his eyes and pulled up a chair. "C'mon, Mosely, this could take awhile. Once she gets started, she may never stop."

Ginny slapped him on the arm while Mosely got a chair for himself. "I'll go see if I can get you some food," she said.

I nodded. "Thanks."

She smiled and left.

"Well..." Harry began awkwardly.

"What did those men want?" I asked.

"Apparently, to kill Baker, Ron, and you. Well, I'm not sure if that was the original plan, but once you two got there, he probably figured he had no choice. Had to save face, you know?"

I nodded. "He almost killed Ron. I was so scared."

"Yeah, we know. Ron told us about it," Harry explained.

"What about that mirror? What was it? Why did they leave when it smashed? And why did it blow up?"

Mosely shifted in his seat. He was dying to tell me. Harry nodded in Mosely's direction and his smooth voice began talking. "We think the mirror may be their link to the other universe—how they've been traveling back and forth. Once you smashed it, they had to get back immediately. They can't stay here in our world too long. So, of course, when you smashed it, they had to leave before it was completely useless to help them get back. Wayden wanted to close the portal the moment they were gone, so he cast a charm on it. That's why it blew up. If you would've been maybe one meter closer to it, it probably would've killed you."

I shivered. That was a pleasant thought. "Is that it then?" I asked. "They're gone forever? They can't come back? The worlds can't be remerged?"

Colton shook his head. "They'll find a way to get back. They always do."

I gazed down at my white sheets and wove them through my fingers. "What about that guy?!" I asked, suddenly struck by a thought. "He works in the Ministry of Magic, but he knew all about the Death Eaters!"

Harry smiled bitterly. "Vitaly Szechznik. He doesn't know whom he's working for. He's a snake. He tells the Death Eaters almost every move we make."

I gasped. "Why in the world do you keep him around? Why don't you arrest him and throw him in Azkaban?"

Colton laughed. "Why would we do that?! The man's a genius. Half the things we know about the time split are because of him."

"He also likes to keep us informed of what the Death Eaters are doing."

"That man probably almost cost Baker and Ron their lives!"

"Yeah, and he saved them," Mosely continued. "If he wouldn't have told you four where the Death Eaters were, Baker Granger would be dead today, and Voldemort would probably be back in power."

That shut me up.

I was trying to calculate what Mosely had said. Us four? Griselda!

"What happened to Gris?" I asked Harry.

"She and McGonagall met us in the middle of the forest. They were looking for us, but you know, you two had wondered so far off the path, they never found that clearing."

"Oh. Then, what was she doing in the middle of nowhere when I found her after she left Ginny's flat that morning?"

"Oh." Harry scooted his chair closer to my bed so our conversation could be more private. "Hermione, Griselda broke up with Ron."

"What! Why?"

"The two of you. Apparently, that day she stayed out of class, she heard you and Ron saying something to each other." Harry shrugged. "Look, I don't know what happened, but she said it made her see something and she didn't belong with Ron."

I gaped at him; I probably looked like a fish.

"She wrote him a note, but the two of them ran into each other when she went to pick up some stuff from the Weasleys'. Apparently, there was yelling and crying and mutual feelings. And it's over. For good."

That sounded final.

I turned back to Colton, feeling rude. "You wanted to ask me some questions, Mr. Mosely?"

He smiled. "Colton."

Harry rolled his eyes behind him and mouthed a word that looked suspiciously like 'flirt.'

"Well..."

"What happened when you smashed that mirror, Miss Granger?"

"Hermione."

Harry rolled his eyes behind Colton's back and mouthed 'back-flirter.'

I shrugged. "It broke like any mirror would. They all apparated, and it exploded. But—wait! Wayden did cast a charm on it."

"What was the charm?"

I tried to remember. Apparently, the explosion had harmed my memory. I never forgot anything! "I'm sorry, Colton. I can't remember."

He nodded. "That's fine. You've done more than enough. If you remember anything else, talk to Potter or Weasley. Thanks for your time, Hermione." He got up, nodded to Harry and me and walked out.

"He seems nice," I said.

"Nice my--"

Ginny came into the room. "C'mon, Harry! Out! Hermione, take a nap. We're going to come pick you up and take you home tonight."

I smiled and laid back on my pillow, falling into a much-needed sleep.

"Mummy!"

I crouched down on my knees and held my arms open.

Baker ran toward me and jumped in my arms. I kissed her numerous times on the face and hair. "Oh, Baker, I was so worried. I love you!"

"Ehw, Mummy," she wiped my kisses from her face. Then, she smiled and jumped up again. "I love you too, Mummy!"

I pulled her back from me to look at her again.

There was something in her eyes. She was scared; scared of everything, everyone. She trusted no one, and at so young an age. She had been traumatized.

God, she looked just like Ron.

She hugged me tighter. "I love you, Mummy!" she repeated.

"No one's ever going to hurt my Baker again."

I don't think anyone realized the extremities I would go to so I could keep from Baker getting hurt again.

I had heard Ron was out of the hospital too. He had returned home to the Weasleys, and I was dreading coming face to face with him again. I still hadn't forgotten about our kiss—or kisses, should I say?

I had packed up all of Baker's things and had her sitting on her bed playing with a doll in her room while I packed my things. The door was locked from the inside and out and I put an Imperturable charm on the room. I heard a knock on the door.

I cautiously approached it and looked through the peephole. There stood Ron, at a mix between wet and dry. He must've just washed his hair.

I opened the door and stood out of his way so he could come in.

"Hi," he said meekly.

"Hey."

"You weren't...busy, were you?"

I shrugged. "Just cleaning up in my room."

"You can go back and finish, if you want."

I shook my head.

"Hermione, we need to talk."

"About what, Ron? What could there possibly be left to talk about? We've discussed the Missing Link, Baker's danger, your job, and the time split! What's left?! What more complications could this whole thing have?!"

"We haven't talked about my feelings for you."

My defenses dropped. "What?!"

"Hermione...I think I'm in complete and total love with you."

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up!"

He looked flabbergasted. "What?"

"Just shut up!"

He stared at me blankly for a moment. Then, we leaned in and kissed. Damn it! It was just as perfect as all our previous kisses.

"Did you get hurt?" I asked, leaning away from him.

"Broke a rib, but they healed it. I did something else to my head too, and I'm taking some potion for that."

I nodded. He tried to kiss me again. I turned away.

"Ron, we can't do this."

"What?! Why?"

I shook my head. "We can't."

"Look, if you need to go clean your room--"

"No, it's not that."

"I'll help you," he said, getting up and heading to my room.

"What! No, don't go in there!"

He looked at me oddly. "What's in your room, Hermione?"

He gently pulled me out of the way and opened the door. "Are you going somewhere?"

I shook my head. "Look, Ron--"

"You're running away, aren't you?"

"No!"

"Hermione, you can't run away from this. Wherever you go, they'll find you."

"I can so!"

"No, you can't. If you run away, you're further from help. You'll be putting Baker in more danger."

"No," I cried. "I'll be saving her!"

"Saving her or saving yourself, Hermione? That was a half-ass attempt to murder her. Next time, they'll be back. With a better plan. You aren't running for her. You're trying to run away from your problems."

"No, I'm not!"

"There are people here who love you and love her, and you're trying to run away from them again. Why d'you keep trying to block us out of your life when all we've ever tried to do is care for you?!"

"No, Ron, you don't see--"

"Look, Hermione, people have worked their asses off to try to keep you safe. And I'm tired of being one of them! Are you trying to steal my daughter from me?!"

"God, no, Ron! I just--"

"You just nothing. I'm sick of this bullshit. All I've ever tried to be for you is a friend, Hermione. Maybe more. And yes, I made a mistake and left. But that was a long time ago and all I've been trying to do since is be a bigger part of my daughter's life—and of your life, Hermione. But all you ever do is push me away! You're always trying to push me away! And I'm fed up with it! I'm done. And I'm leaving."

He gave me one last disgusted look and turned to walk away.

I chased after him, tears crawling down my cheeks and onto my neck. "No, Ron! Please don't leave like this. You're right! I love you—I love you!"

But he was already gone.

I walked back inside to my room. Baker was sitting on the bed, staring out the window towards where I had last seen Ron. "Whewe did Daddy go?" she asked.

"What did you say?"

"I said, 'whewe did Daddy go?' Why did he leave?"

I sat down on the bed next to her. She called him Daddy—she called Ron Daddy. "Is he coming back?"

"I'm not sure, Baker." I glanced over at her. "How did you get out of your room?"

She smiled mischievously. There he was, always back to haunt me in my daughter's features. "Daddy taught me a spell, remember?"

"What?"

She grinned. "Remember?"

A/N: isn't Colton hot? I think so! Wasn't that sweet? Do you guys know there are only TWO chapters left in this story? I sort of think the sequel is more of a continuation than a completely different story. I started it this week though. I hate plotting! It takes for-ever!

Do you guys hate me? I love you! So without further ado, here is an excerpt from the first ever Chronicles of Ratonton. No part of this story had EVER been released to the public before. And so it begins:

...All of a sudden, everything got quiet.

"No,w what about those damned birds!" Billy shouts.

Suddenly, Torre Fonaldson (name edited for protection of actual person) walked out of nowhere...much in the way Usher and Lil John did.

"Are there any white people in this story?" Billy screams.

"HEY, WE'RE WHITE!" yell the Spice Girls, but no one notices.

Heavenly A heveanly figure appears in a puff of smoke.

"Wow, that was...amazing," Torre says in awe.

"No," said the Oracle, who everyone now recognized. "Just a Marlboro." He threw down his cigarette and squished it with his toe. "I've come to speak to you Ratonton."

"You know my name?"

"Yes, I am the Oracle, I know all. For you are Billy, you are Torre, you Lil John. And you Usher, and--" he turned to the Spice Girls. "Who the hell are you?!"

Part skipped so as not to contain any spoilers

"What happened to Usher?" Nelly asked. "And when did I get here?"

"Omigod," Torre yells, pointing after a curly headed white man. "Justin Timberlake's stolen Usher."

Justin Timberlake was running away with Usher over his shoulder like a potato sack. Everyone chased after him.

Timberlake stops and stashes Usher in his secret hideout.

"You white ass pansy," yells Al Sharpton...from the future.

"Hey," says the Oracle to Justin Timberlake. "Bring back that Usher!"

"No!"

"Yes, you white ass pansy!"

Billy starts crying. "But we want him back."

"Cry me a river," Timberlake sings.

And that is all I can give you