Disclaimer: Yeah . . . oh yeah and btw "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" which is used later in the chapter belongs to Green Day.
Twenty-five
"Presenting the Valedictorian of Hogwarts Class of 2006, Miss Hermione Granger!" Professor Dumbledore
Months later, I stood next to Professor Dumbledore wearing a shiny badge. I looked around at the crowd in front of me. Harry and Ginny were linked arm in arm, cheering, and Ron was screaming into the Great Hall. Professor Dumbledore beamed as Hagrid wiped a tear from his eye. They thought that I was never coming back, but I knew better.
"Congratulations, Hermione," Harry said as I stepped down from the owl-shaped podium on which I stood.
"Thanks, you guys," I replied. I couldn't help but smile.
"We all knew you'd be Valedictorian, but you never believed us when we told you that you didn't have to work so hard. Even if you didn't study twenty-four-seven, you still would have graduated the top student in the class," Ron said, sneering.
"Well, I didn't do much studying this year," I said quietly to myself.
"And yet, you still managed to become Valedictorian," Ginny said, grinning.
"See? We're not completely dumb," Ron laughed.
"Of course not," I replied.
Dumbledore raised his arms, and the Great Hall quieted. "And now," he said, "it is time to say goodbye. I know that everyone here has had a wonderful time, and though we've been through some tough skirmishes, this has been a wonderful experience for everyone. But before we say farewell for the last time, Miss Granger and Mister Weasley have a little treat for you."
I smiled at Ron and motioned for him to follow me. He jumped up and we stepped back up next to Dumbledore, who produced a microphone out of the air. He also magicked a guitar, keyboard, drum set, and bass that played by themselves.
"Hey, everyone," I said. "First of all, I know that, as Professor Dumbledore said, we have all been through some tough times, such as our fourth year during the Triwizard Tournament, our second year, during the Chamber of Secrets Crisis" – I saw Ginny blush and try and hide her face – "and many other times, but we have all grown up with each other and changed in many ways. We've gotten together and broken up, lost friends and made new ones, continued old rivalries, and we've all done things we wish we could take back. But now, we're all here together for the last time in probably many years, and Ron and I would like to thank you all for the time of our lives."
Ron turned to me, his ears bright red, and said, "You ready to do this?"
"Ready when you are," I shot back. I grinned at him as the guitar began to play and I began to sing.
"Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road.
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go.
So make the best of this test and don't ask why.
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time.
"It's something unpredictable,
But in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life."
As quickly as I could, I passed the microphone over to Ron, whose newly-discovered, sweet-sounding, deep voice filled the Great Hall.
"So take the photographs and still frames in your mind.
Hang them on a shelf of good health and good time.
Tattoos and memories and dead skin on trial,
For what it's worth, it was worth all the while.
"It's something unpredictable,
But in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life."
We held out the microphone for everyone to sing the last verse –
"It's something unpredictable,
But in the end, it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life."
Everyone cheered us. That is, everyone except for Malfoy and Pansy, who were slouching in the corner, undoubtedly remarking about what horrible singers we were. But even now, I didn't care – I was having the time of my life.
"So, what are your plans for the summer, Hermione?" Harry asked tentatively. I threw Ron a glance out of the corner of my eye.
"Well, my parents are going to Rome for most of the summer to quote-on-quote 'spend some time alone with each other' (even though I know what they really want to do), so I'm going to be staying with the Weasleys," I explained.
"Lucky!" Harry exclaimed, grabbing his trunk as we pulled out of the cabin of the train.
"Our last ride on the Hogwarts Express . . ." Ron murmured.
"That's kind of sad to think about," Harry said. "Especially because it means that until I get a home of my own, I have to spend time with the Dursleys. At least now I can scare them half to death by Apparating everywhere like Fred and George used to do in our fifth year. Remember? They wouldn't walk more than three feet if they could Apparate there."
I laughed, recalling the incident. "That will surely drive them crazy," I said.
Ron ran his hand along the edge of the car and said, "Goodbye, Hogwarts Express," before jumping from it to greet his ecstatic mother.
"Oh, my youngest son, a graduate of Hogwarts!" Mrs. Weasley cried, throwing her arms around Ron. "My goodness, I'm getting old!"
"You're not old, Mrs. Weasley," I jumped in, emerging from the train with Ron's hand in mine.
"Suck up," he murmured jokingly.
"And Hermione, dear! Valedictorian! Congratulations! We are all so proud of you!" she continued, turning to me.
"Thanks," I said, blushing. She went to hug me, but then noticed his fingers in the spaces between mine. She gasped. Ron gulped.
"Mum?" he said cautiously. "I'd like you to meet . . . my new girlfriend."
"Ronald Billius Weasley!" she exclaimed.
"Mum! Don't call me that!" he hissed. I chuckled to myself.
Much to my surprise (and to Ron's as well, judging by the look on his face), Mrs. Weasley said, "Well, congratulations on that as well, you two!"
"W-what?"
"Oh, Ron, it's so obvious that you've had a crush on her! We've all been waiting for you to ask her out forever," she explained.
"You and the rest of the world," I sad quietly. Ron laughed. I reached for the pendant around my neck, the pendant I had gotten used to wearing every single day, and began playing with the stone.
"Oh, dear, what a beautiful necklace! Where on Earth did you get it?" Mrs. Weasley asked, leaning closer to look at it.
"Ron gave it to me," I said shyly.
"Oh, so that's the reason for only getting a card with a note this year for Christmas!" she said, looking to Ron.
"Mum!"
Just then, Ginny and Harry walked out, also hand in hand. Before Mrs. Weasley could say anything, Ginny said, "Mom, I'm going out with Harry."
"She smiled slyly and said, "I thought you were over him, dear."
"Sorry, I lied," Ginny said. Harry said nothing. I could see that behind his back, his fingers were crossed in hopes that she would approve of this new relationship.
"What are you so worried about, Harry dear? Come on. You can come home with us," she said.
"W-what?" Harry stammered.
"Come on with us. Hermione's already staying over in Ginny's room. We can probably squeeze you into Ron's room. Just . . . no switching rooms in the middle of the night."
"MUM!" both Ron and Ginny screamed simultaneously.
The ride home was fairly uneventful, but quite noisy. Ginny was talking to Harry, who was talking to Ron, who was talking to me, and Mrs. Weasley was just sort of talking to us in the midst of it, hoping that she could get a word in edgewise but never managing to do so. Once we arrived at the Burrow, I was absolutely amazed. I had known Ron since we were eleven, and I had never yet seen his house. He brought me up to his bedroom and I looked around in complete awe. I noticed on his desk three framed photographs – one that looked to be clipped out of a newspaper, featuring the entire Weasley family looking very tan under the Egyptian sun; one of he, Harry and I that had been taken at the end of our sixth year; and one last one. It was a girl who looked to be just under seventeen, with curly brown hair and brown eyes. She was smiling at us and waving cheerily, and she blew Ron a kiss. I recognized it as myself – it was the picture I had sent to him in a letter the summer after our sixth year. I'd had wizard photos professionally taken like they did in the Muggle world, like the ones they called "Senior Pictures."
"Any particular reason you had that up before we got together?" I asked cheekily.
"Oh, shut up," he snapped, sitting down on the edge of the bed.
I sat down next to him and said, "Oh, come on, I was just kidding. If it makes you feel better, I've had a picture of you on my desk since the third year. It's the one I kept in the Dormitory when we had been going out back then. I always had the hope that we would get back together, so I never put it away."
"That's sweet, Hermione," he said, a smile playing on the corner of his lips. I leaned into him and kissed him softly.
"I better go in to Ginny's room – that's where your Mom thinks I am right now. She thinks I'm unpacking my stuff," I said.
"Yeah, I suppose you better get going then. Don't want her to catch you in here with me – you have no idea what she'll think we're doing."
I turned and walked out of the room, but not before blowing him a kiss. "Oh, could you get Harry while you're there?" I heard him shout, but I just looked over my shoulder at him before disappearing around the corner.
I walked into Ginny's room only to find her kissing Harry . . . with the door wide open.
"You know, if you guys are going to make out in Ginny's room, you probably should lose the door first so no one can see," I said rudely.
Ginny jumped and pulled away, blushing. Harry smiled and said, "Well, maybe you should knock first."
I rolled my eyes and said, "Ron wants you in his room."
"Alright." He turned to give Ginny a quick kiss on the cheek before going to find Ron in his room.
"Harry's right, Hermione. You might want to knock first. You never know when your door will just happen to be open when you guys are making out," Ginny said. I went over to her and sat down on the bed.
"I can tell already, Ginny, this should be the best summer of our lives."
"The fun has arrived!" a voice shouted into the Burrow.
"Fred, George, dears, you're late!" Mrs. Weasley cried, bustling over to them.
"We know. There was this one guy who wouldn't leave the shop. We had to give him a whole box of Canary Crèmes before we could convince him to leave," Fred said.
"Ah, business is booming! I suppose it will be better now that all of your pranking friends have money in their pockets to spend over the summer," George added.
"Come on, sit down, we've been waiting for you guys to get here before we ate! We're starving!" Mr. Weasley said. The twins sat down across from Ron and me.
"Looks delicious, Mum," George commented.
"What are you doing here?" Fred asked Harry, pretending to be disgusted. "And you? Valedictorian? You are too perfect to be sitting at our table. Be gone with you," he said, turning to me.
"Hey, leave her alone, alright?" Ron jumped in testily.
"Ron, it's fine," I said quietly. I put my hand on his knee to calm him down. I felt his muscles loosen.
"Jeez, Ronnie-kins, what's got you so uptight?" Fred said. "I was only joking. You know that, right, Hermione?"
"Yes, of course I knew that," I said.
After we had begun eating, we heard a small clattering sound. "Oh, goodness. It seems as though I've dropped my fork," George said. "Let me just pick it up."
Just the way he said it made me realize he was up to something more than just picking up his fork. He seemed to be under the table for a while before coming up with his fork.
"Sorry about that," he said. Ron gave him a sideways look and he just said, "Hey, I only dropped my fork! Is there some new fork-dropping law or something?"
We continued eating, but Ron was eyeing Fred and George the rest of the meal. I knew the look in all of their eyes – the twins knew something, and Ron wanted to know what they knew.
After the meal was over, Ron and I turned to walk away, but I felt someone grab my wrist. I looked at the person to see that it was Fred, and George had a hold on Ron's wrist as well.
"Hello," they said in unison.
"What do you want?" Ron sneered.
"Nothing really . . ."
"We just wanted to talk to you . . ."
". . . For a minute or two."
"Come on, Ron, it's fine," I said, and I let him drag me away. We went upstairs to the room that the twins shared and they closed the door.
"So, what's up with you two?" George asked.
"You're acting sort of odd," Fred concluded.
"Nothing's wrong," Ron said hastily.
"Ron, come on. You pretty much chopped our heads off for calling Hermione 'unfit for our table'."
"Oh, Ron, they're your brothers! Just tell them!" I squeaked.
"You two finally got together, didn't you?" Fred asked.
"Yes," Ron said shortly.
"I told you so," George said. "I told you I was right. I knew it when I saw them holding hands under the table. And you said he'd be too scared to ask her out."
"Well, technically, he was, because he never actually asked me out. We just went out," I said knowingly.
"So like Hermione to correct everyone . . ." George joked.
That night, Ron and Harry Apparated into the room in which Ginny and I were supposed to be sleeping and discussed the past couple years and the next few years. We reminisced of our second year when Harry had saved Ginny from the Basilisk; Ron and I informed Harry and Ginny of everything that happened to us in our third year; we talked about the Yule Ball in the Fourth year – mostly joking about how jealous Ron had been and how obvious he had made it seem; we talked about Ginny's ex-boyfriend, Michael Corner, and scolded her for ever picking out such a stupid boyfriend; we talked about this year and all the mistakes we had made.
We also discussed our futures. Ginny, of course, still had a year left to go at Hogwarts, but she thought that maybe when she was older, she would work at the Ministry of Magic. Harry told us about how badly he wanted to be an Auror, and Ron as well, although Ron also said he wanted to grow up and be Lucius Malfoy's boss someday in the Ministry so he could order him around and completely humiliate him.
"What about you, Hermione? What do you want to do with your life?" Ron asked me.
"Well, I want to get married, because the least thing I want is to be an unmarried old maid – that would be so boring. And then I want to have lots of kids . . ." At this, both Harry and Ginny gave Ron glances out of the corners of their eyes. " . . . And as for my job, I probably want to be the Charms Professor at Hogwarts after Flitwick retires. And it's my dream to be Headmistress."
"I probably could have figured that one out for myself," Ron snorted.
"Oh, shut up," I said in response.
"Well, we just have to promise each other that no matter where our futures take us, we'll always be friends," Ginny said.
Ron laughed quietly so as not to alert Mrs. Weasley and said, "Ginny, that was wicked cheesy and wicked girly."
"I'm serious!" she said. "I don't ever want us to lose this. Can you please promise me that?"
Harry put his arm around Ginny and kissed her on her head. "Of course, Ginny. We'll promise you that."
I laid my head down on Ron's chest and murmured, "Yes, I can definitely promise you that."