Hermoine's Chapter

"Alright you have my address send me a post or something. Oh we'll keep in touch I promise!"

"Yes we will thank you Parvati, I'm going to miss you." Hermoine clasped her arms around her fellow Gryffindor alumni. After much hugging and tears Parvati and all the other Gryffindor girls exited leaving Hermoine to finish packing on her own.

Hermoine zipped her suitcase closed quietly and placadingly. "I hope I haven't forgotten anything…" Crookshanks purred and rubbed against her leg and then against her old beside table. Hermoine opened the drawer, inside was a weathered navy blue diary with vermilion lettering on the front. "Oh dear how could I have left this here?" she mumbled walking towards her suitcase. As she was about to unzip her suitcase but was startled when something fell out of the diary.

It was an old photograph of Ron and herself. The corners were slightly torn and the picture crumpled but Hermoine remembered the moment clearly. It was a depiction of one of the billion field trips to Hogsmeade nearby the now torn-down Shrieking Shack. What made this picture so emotional to Hermoine was that it didn't move, Colin Creevy had used his Muggle camera for it. Hermoine sniffled and rubbed a stray tear from her cheek. Nothing had happened between herself and Ron although she wished something had; now she was going home and was going to study dentistry with her parents. She loathed dentistry and wished she could stay at Hogwarts forever.

She tucked the diary and the photograph under her arm along with her two monstrous suitcases and called Crookshanks. "Crookshanks? Come here sweety and say goodbye." Crookshanks only purred. Hermoine breathed deeply taking in her final breath in the Gryffindor common room. She trudged down the stairs and past various paintings quietly studying the floor tiles so as to keep herself from crying.

"Hermoine…"

Hermoine perked up. Standing in front of her was her interpretation of a knight in shining armor.

"Hey Ron…"

"H--ey Her--hermoine…" Ron's ears turned pink. He took out his wand startling Hermoine. "Argillarosa" and with that a small white rose germinated in the palm of Ron's hand.

"Oh Ron it's beautiful." Hermoine mused gently taking the delicate plant from Ron's hand.

"Hermoine" Ron's courage rose slightly, "the flower may be beautiful but it pales in comparison to you." Hermoine couldn't take it for another moment she dropped everything, teared and kissed Ron. Ron was stunned but gently held Hermoine in his arms feeling her soft lips penetrate into his mouth and into his heart. Abruptly Hermoine let go, face turning from a fleshy peach to deep rose in color. Ron's ears also reddened.

"I love you Ron."

"I love you too Hermoine." And with that Hermoine and Ron kissed again. The forgotten rose, diary and photo lay disregarded on the ground. In the picture neither Ron nor Hermoine were smiling but if you looked again you could hear their giddy laughter and see their faces glowing with joy. It was almost like magic…

Author Rantings

Argillarosa directly translated from latin means "the white rose"

Flufferpuf 01.09.05