A/N: Can you believe it? I finally did it. Thank you for your patience. I hope you enjoyed it and be sure to leave a review, if only a short one.
Hermione gasped, taken off guard. She forced herself out of the chair. It couldn't be; could it? she wondered, stepping closer slowly, as if the box were toxic. She brought her hand to her lip for a moment before placing it on the case.
She picked it up and snapped it open. Inside was the most beautiful and delicate ring she'd ever seen. A silver or white gold (Hermione couldn't tell) band held a small round sapphire with tiny diamonds on each side. Not only was it her birthstone, but the color of Ron's eyes.
She felt tears welling again in her eyes that rolled softly down her cheeks when she saw the simple engraving on the inside: R&H.
Ron and Hermione. Ron and Harry. The two letters joined by an ampersand meant only one thing to Hermione. Love. A love that she had given up and given up on. A love that she had prevented. She assumed it was meant to be an engagement ring, and the thought pained her. Ron was going to ask her to marry him, and she walked out with his heart and his baby.
She sat down on her bed, trying to gain control of herself. Then she did what any woman in her position would have done; she slipped the ring on the ring finger of her left hand, and, oh, how it fit! It was like a piece of a puzzle that had been missing for 7 years and was finally in place.
All she wanted to do was run to Ron's hotel room and tell him that she wanted to be with him, but a little nagging voice in her head stopped her. She tore off the ring and was about to put it back in the box when she hesitated, slipping it onto her right ring finger.
It was only eight o' clock, so she sat back at her desk to get some work done. It quickly occurred to her that she had no work to do, so she decided to write a follow up letter to Mrs. Weasley. The last time she had written was a warning that Ron most likely wouldn't be speaking to her for quite a while. Hermione also included how well Ron and Harry were getting along. This time she intended to write about her plans to visit with little Harry for the Christmas holiday. Unfortunately, all she could manage to write was,
Dear Molly,
How could you let me stay here?
Since that clearly wasn't working, she decided to call it a night. She tossed and turned in her bed for about an hour before she realized that it was no use. She threw on some clothes and went to her fireplace to floo the neighbor.
"Hermione," Mr. Shultz smiled upon seeing her face in the fireplace, "what has you calling so late?"
"Am I interrupting anything?" Hermione asked politely.
"Does it look like you're interrupting anything?" he laughed.
She blushed. "May I ask you a favor?"
"Anything."
"Well," Hermione said, "I have a very important errand to run. I was wondering if you could take Harry for a couple of hours."
"I'd love to have Harry for a little while. I'll just make up the couch for him." He pulled his wand from the table beside the large armchair he was seated in and pointed it towards the couch, which quickly covered itself in blankets and pillows.
"I can't thank you enough," Hermione sighed. "We'll be over in a few minutes."
She stood from the fireplace and walked into Harry's room. She sat on his bed and watched him sleeping for a moment. She touched his cheek softly and his eyes fluttered open.
Upon seeing his mother, Harry scowled and rolled over.
"Harry," Hermione whispered, "I know you're mad at me, but I need you to help me."
Harry just groaned and pulled the covers over his head.
Hermione tugged them down. "C'mon, will you please, please, please just do a favor for your mum and sleep at Mr. Shultz's flat tonight? I really need to go do something."
Harry sighed dramatically and got out of bed. He was used to spending the night at the neighbor's house when Hermione had to go to the hospital for night shifts and emergencies.
After Harry was settled in and fast asleep on the neighbor's couch, Hermione apparated to the lobby of his hotel and rushed to the front desk where she immediately demanded Ron's room number. The witch at the front desk smiled. "Of course," she nodded, lifting a phone to her ear, "let me just call up and check with him. What should I say this is regarding?"
Hermione thought for a moment, "tell him that….er…Harry wanted to see him one last time."
The woman looked at Hermione skeptically, "Harry?"
"Yes, Harry."
She dialed the number and waited a moment before putting the phone down. "I'm sorry, Mr. Weasley has a 'do not disturb' on his phone line. Many wizards use that when they don't know how to use the phone. I guess you'll just have to try again in the morning."
"Listen, this is sort of an emergency. I really must see him."
"And why, may I ask?" The woman replied snottily.
"Because," Hermione improvised, "I'm his…fiancé…and…I'm pregnant with his child…and I haven't told him. You see, our wedding is not until April, and I really must tell him now so that he can reschedule the wedding to an, um, earlier time."
The woman's eyes grew wide as she scanned around the lobby, before leaning towards Hermione and whispering, "I know exactly how you feel. He's in room 1106." She stood up straight and nodded. Hermione turned towards the lift, glancing back over her shoulder momentarily to wonder how this woman knew how she "felt."
Hermione stood on the elevator, twisting the ring around her finder. The wide doors slid open, and she steadied herself as she walked down the hall. She arrived at room 1106, standing to breath for a moment.
She noticed a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door, which caused her to hesitate before knocking. There was no reply. She knocked again, but still, nothing. She slammed her fist against the door and was about to scream when she heard, "Can't you read the bloody 'Do Not Disturb—'" The door swung open and Ron stopped talking.
They stood looking at each other for a few tense minutes. Ron had clearly just stepped out of the shower. He wore nothing more than a white bathrobe and droplets of water glistened on his skin. He sighed, running a hand through his dripping red hair. "What are you doing here?"
"I…I had to talk to you."
"Oh. I have to pack. Why don't you come in," he offered, his voice showing no emotion. She followed him inside and sat in the small wooden chair beside the room-service strewn table. "So," Ron said, stuffing a pair of jeans into his suitcase, "what did you need to talk about?"
"Well, I—" Hermione began, but Ron cut her off by saying, "Is Christmas not going to work for you? Should I wait until Easter to see Harry again? Or maybe his effing Summer vacation would fit in with your busy schedule more accordingly. Better yet, I'll just see my boy when he comes to Hogwarts. I'll take the thankless teaching job they've been offering me for years. At least I'd get to see him every day."
"Stop!"
"Or were you even planning on sending him to Hogwarts?" Ron continued, ignoring Hermione gasps of shock and offense. "Maybe you want to send him to a damn Muggle high school and he can go do a damn Muggle university and he can forget ALL of his damn wizarding roots! Is that what you want?" He turned from his suitcase.
"No!" Hermione yelled.
"Fuck it, Hermione. I should have listened to everyone else who told me to forget you. But I didn't. I listened to my mother, and I listened to my heart. And do you see where it got me? Still alone and with a six-year-old son I hardly know!"
Hermione dabbed tears from her eyes with the heels of her hands. "You have to forgive me, Ron," she sobbed. "I'm sorry. I need to make it up to you. I need to!"
He shook his head and turned back to zip his suitcase. "Why are you here?"
"I…" Hermione breathed, trying to remember, "Because I…Why? Why did you give me the ring?"
Ron dropped the suitcase onto the floor. "I thought if I gave it to you at Christmas, it would send the wrong impression. I didn't want to further complicate things during the holiday."
Hermione nodded and waited a moment before asking, "Were you going to propose?"
Ron laughed. "We were kids then, Hermione. It was a promise ring. I wanted to promise you that I'd always take care of you."
"But if I had stayed…later…would you have?"
"Of course. I never would have left you in trouble like that." He sighed and sat down on the bed. "But you never really gave me the opportunity."
"I really did love you, Ron. I guess I just needed time to heal. There was so much pain that year."
"I know. I really did love you, too."
"And now?"
Ron looked down at his hands and back up with a calm, half-smile. "We'll talk about it at Christmas. You should probably go home to Harry."
"It's not urgent…He's in capable hands."
A silence settled between them as neither spoke for a few moments.
Ron reached out to touch Hermione's hand. "Then…stay?"
"All right."
When you touch me like this
And when you hold me like that
It was gone with the wind
But it's all coming back to me
When you see me like this
And when I see you like that
Then we see what we want to see
All coming back to me
The flesh and the fantasies
All coming back to me
I can barely recall
But it's all coming back to me now
If you forgive me all this
If I forgive you all that
We forgive and forget
And it's all coming back to me
When you see me like this
And when I see you like that
We see just what we want to see
All coming back to me
The flesh and the fantasies
All coming back to me
I can barely recall but it's all coming back to me now-Celine Dion, "It's All Coming Back to Me Now"
The End…or just The Beginning?
A/N: This is your last chance to leave a review! Please do. Any little message to say you enjoyed or hated or were bored by it would be much appreciated.
Thank you so so so much to all of my faithful readers, and an especially big thanks and huge hugs to ako, Prodigy Girl, Rai, Athene, Tiffiany-45, breeNbloom, BuckNC, Ronaholic, the-love-of-ron, oftheeast (aka, my fantabulous older sister Remy), Moldanubikum, relientKFAN, Colleen, some1 I don't know, Sammay (aka, the best friend a girl could ask for), Cayin-Moonchild, LissaGranger, Ronaholic, KTF (aka, the other best friend a girl could ask for), astral-monkey, icieyes, Molly (aka, the other other best friend a girl could ask for), Voldie on Varsity Track, Crystal, bluetowel, leelee, juliet's rose, Adipodes Poe, Shadow on the Wall, Laurella, k, lillypotterfan, red moonshadow, Puddles 4, ERSM###, Mary Sue Assassin, Disneyluver, Bella O, Tomoko Kaiba, gpotter, Andy from NY, astral-monkey, Bsugar, Elena, Miriam (if you're reading this, call me!), Nicole, and Koala Tangerine.
You all rock my world. Happy New Year and thanks for all your support!
-Jody