AN: It took longer than I expected to get out this part, but I wanted it to be just right, since it is the last one. I want to thank all of my loyal readers for sticking with me and leaving such wonderful feedback that inspires me to keep writing; I couldn't do it without you. Thank you so much for loving this story as much as I do and for allowing me to share this with you. Keep on the lookout for some other stories coming from me...hopefully soon. I've been working on a series of vignettes staring the famous Weasley Twins in their endeavors... (the first one will be entitled Coffee Confessions). Anyway...enjoy the part and thank you so much for being a part of this.

And for those for you who were able to figure it all out...congratulations.

Part 8: Confessions

I stay in the shower for what seems like forever. Each time I'm able stop the flow of tears, I remember the way he held me, the way our bodies fit so perfectly together, and the look on his face as I pulled away from him after he'd said those ominous words…and the sobs start all over again.

When I finally step out of the shower, my fingers and toes are wrinkled from the moisture. I quickly dry off and dress in my night clothes. I can think nothing better right now then to curl up in my bed and pretend this all had been a bad dream. Well, I can think of something better…but lets not ever go there.

I knew it was a stupid idea from the start; I was bound to get hurt. But I just wouldn't listen to myself, the temptation was too great.

Maybe I'll be lucky, and I'll wake up in the morning and this really will have been a bad dream. This is all I can think about, all I'm hoping for as I walk out of my room…

And come face to face with Ron.

So much for it being a dream.

"What are you doing here?" I ask irritably. The last thing I need right now is a hormone crazed Ron trying to get into my pants.

"We need to talk."

"Well I don't really feel much like talking," I retort. "How did you get up here anyway?"

"I flew," he says simply, indicating where his cleansweep eleven is perched near the window.

"Of course," I say, rolling my eyes. "Well if you came for a goodnight snog you can forget it. I'm not in the mood." I make for my bed, pulling down the covers hoping he'll take the hint and go away. I know I'm going to have to answer for this tomorrow, but right now I don't care.

"'Mione, are you even listening to me. I said we need to talk," his frustration comes out in the tone of his voice. Well this isn't a walk in the park for me either! Bloody wanker…

"And I said I don't feel like talking," I say with as much force as I can muster given my current state. "I'm tired and I want to go to bed. And you're not even supposed to be up here anyway."

"I don't care. You can call McGonagall up here for all I care, but not until you listen to me. You don't want to talk, fine. But at least listen to what I have to say."

As much as I want to just ignore him and summon McGonagall up here right now, something makes me want to listen. Maybe a part of me needs to hear him out. Maybe a part of me is wishing what he is going to say is what I've been longing to hear for seven years. Maybe I'm just too tired and weak to fight him. Maybe it's the slight twinge of desperation I hear in his voice. Whatever the reason, I find myself saying:

"Alright, I'm listening."

"Thank you," he says, his voice sounding relieved. As confident as he had sounded, at least a part of him was worried that I wouldn't hear him out.

I wait…and wait in silence. Finally my impatience gets the better of me.

"Well?"

"Give me a minute," he says angrily, but then his expression turns apologetic. "I'm sorry. I just…I'm trying to gather my thoughts a bit. I don't want to mess it up."

I smile a little at that comment. Since when does Ron ever think before he speaks?

It's another few moments before he finally speaks, his soft voice cutting through the silence of the room.

"I want to talk about what happened before. When we were…you know…in the room of requirement?" He blushes slightly.

I nod my head, acknowledging that I understand what he's talking about. How could I forget? It's all I've been thinking about.

"Well, what I said. I didn't mean it to—"

"I know Ron, you don't have to explain yourself," I say cutting him off. It kills me to hear it and I can feel all my hopes crash down with that sentence. Spare me Ron! You don't need to hurt me more than you already have!

"That's not why I left," I lie, trying to hide the hurt in my voice; I don't want him to know how much this is affecting me. "I just figured things were going a bit far and that we should probably sto—"

"Bloody hell, Hermione. Will you just let me finish?" he asks exasperatedly. It isn't until after he's said it that I realize he's hushed me with a hand over my mouth. I guess I was rambling a bit.

I nod my head, and he removes his hand. He takes a step back, recomposing himself and then begins again.

"As I was saying. What I said, I didn't mean it to come out that way. That's not the way I ever imagined saying it."

I open my mouth to say something, but he stops me.

"But…," he stretches the word out to get the point across that I am not to interrupt. "But I'm not sorry I said it. I meant every word."

"No you didn't," I say softly, turning away from him. I can't believe this. What's he trying to do?

"Yes, I did," he says coming up behind me. "I love you Hermione."

"Stop it!" I yell turning around to face him, tears now falling from my eyes. I just can't take it anymore. "Stop it, please. You don't love me. It's just the stupid potion talking."

"No it's not," he says calmly, reaching out to touch me, but I flinch away. "I love you. So much some times I think it's going to kill me. And this is coming straight from the heart Hermione."

"No…" I say weakly.

"Hermione," he says softly, finally putting a hand to my cheek and turning my face to look at him. "I never took the potion."

"What?" I stare at him for a moment, trying to figure out what he's getting at. "But, I was there. I saw you drink it."

Ron laughs a little. "Well, you saw me drink something, but it wasn't the lust potion. Well, not technically at least."

"I don't understand. What was it then?"

"Well, it was the lust potion, but I didn't put in your saliva, so it was useless."

"What, but I saw you put it in."

"A little slight of hand trick I learned from my brothers. You think Fred and George taught me nothing? But aside from that, it was the same lust potion. I was afraid if it wasn't, you'd know. You aren't considered the cleverest witch in Hogwarts for nothing, after all," he smiles warmly, and I feel my stomach do that little flip that it likes to do when he's around.

I digest all that he's said, when suddenly a thought comes to me. "You were planning this all along?"

"Well, no," Ron says blushing. "I've been trying to figure out how to tell you how I feel for a long time, but I wasn't sure if you felt the same way. Harry told me you did, and Ginny, but I just wasn't seeing it. You just seemed so dismissive of me sometimes, like when I'd ask you to play chess or something with me, but you always preferred to study or something like that.

"That's why I started coming down to breakfast earlier, so that I could be with you more, just the two of us. You don't know how hard it's been for me to get up that early every morning," he says with a grin, and I can't help but laugh.

"It was worth it, though. But I still wasn't sure how you felt, so I came up with the potion idea. I was going to take it myself, hoping that it would give me the courage I needed to tell you how I felt. Then if you totally rebuffed me, I could tell you about the potion later and I could pretend it was all nothing."

"You know you could have just made this a lot easier on yourself by telling me how you felt."

"Well, I know that now," he says rolling his eyes. "But at the time, I was afraid of making a fool of myself."

"And you didn't think that by taking a lust potion you might be doing just that."

"Yeah, well…at least then I could blame everything on the potion now couldn't I?"

I laugh a little, hardly believing the elaborate scheme I'd gotten myself into.

"Anyway, you changed everything when you walked in on me in the room of requirement yesterday and I had to tell you what I was making. But I decided what better way to figure out whether or not you like me then to see how you respond to my advances? But I realized that I had to be much more in control for that plan to work, so I decided not to take the potion after all."

I take another moment, going over everything he'd just said. "You realize this is a little unbelievable don't you?"

He shakes his head. "What's unbelievable is how strongly I feel about you," he says looking me straight in the eyes, then adds after a moment. "And how messed up this night has become."

I look at him, nodding. Not sure where we go from here.

"Can you ever forgive me?" he asks after watching me for a moment.

I pretend to think about it for a moment. "You should have just told me," I say.

"I know," he says, looking at his feet.

"But I suppose," I say smiling, "just this once."

The smile that lit up his face was contagious and I soon found myself laughing, my heart lighter then it had been in a long time, as he picked me up and spun me around in his arms. He slid me down his body so that I was firmly back on the ground.

"I love you so much," he breaths, looking deep into my eyes, with his arms still around me.

"I love you too," I say, still smiling with that giddy feeling.

"You don't know how long I've wanted to hear you say that," he says, his eyes twinkling.

"Oh, yes I do," I reply, thinking about all the times I've dreamed of him saying the same words to me.

"Does this mean I get to kiss you now?"

"You better," I reply, before his lips descend upon mine for the countless time that night.

I stretch languidly, squinting into the sun shining through the curtains and onto my face. I smile, remembering the events of last night and the lovely dream that followed them. Snuggling into my blankets, I decide not to get up quite yet and am thoroughly determined to go back to dreaming about my perfect boyfriend.

Ron is my boyfriend. He loves me, and now he's my boyfriend.

It's such an odd concept. Just yesterday he was still my friend, and the crush I could never have. But now…now all my dreams are coming true.

I open my eyes again, deciding that before I completely sacrifice myself to dreams of Ron I should at least see how much time I have before I have to get up. I really hate being interrupted in the middle of a dream.

My tired eyes finally begin to focus on the small numbers on the clock, and it has me shooting up in bed. When did it get so late!

I rush around the room, getting everything together for my classes, while trying to dress in the process. I must have forgotten to set my alarm last night. Stupid boyfriend and his stupid distractions…

I am nearly out the door with my school books when I remember that it's Saturday and that I don't have class. This whole thing with Ron has really thrown me for a loop, made me lose all my bearings.

I smile a little bit at the thought. Only he can make me this crazy.

Slowing down, I take a little more time to tame my wild hair, pulling it back and out of my face. I change into comfortable muggle clothes, leaving the school robes behind, and head more calmly down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

I'm not surprised to find Ron, Harry and Ginny already eating when I get there.

"Hey Hermione," I hear Harry call as I make my way towards them. Ron turns around at the mention of my name, and a smile comes over his face. He scoots over a little, making sure I have plenty of room beside him.

"Morning 'Mione," he says as I sit down with a greeting and a smile. I can't help but smile back. Across from us, Ginny and Harry are smiling smugly.

"You're a bit late," Harry says, drawing mine and Ron's attention towards him. "We were beginning to wonder if something happened to you."

"I overslept a bit is all," I say, trying to keep my face neutral, but that smile just won't go away.

"Long night?" Ginny asks, and at that neither her nor Harry can contain their laughter. I roll my eyes at them.

"Alright you two," I admonish. Ron is silent through all this, and I turn to him to find that he's been looking at me the whole time. I blush slightly and move to put some food on my plate.

Ron puts a hand under the table, running it up and down my thigh in a loving motion. I smile at him, conveying my love for him without words, just as his actions were, and settle into my breakfast.

Harry's next words suggest he must notice the interaction between us. "So, I'm guessing last night went well?" he asks, his eyebrows raised.

Ron and I both stop eating, looking up at our friend. Ron smiles.

"In a matter of speaking," he begins. "There were a few misunderstandings, but all and all it worked out alright."

"So…" Ginny prompted.

"So, we're together now," Ron says looking at his sister. "Happy?"

Ginny gives a little whoop of triumph and Harry laughs. I can almost swear I hear him say, "It's about time," under his breath.

"I have to hand it to you," Harry says after a minute. "I was sure this stupid plan of yours was going to blow up in your face," he finishes, looking at Ron.

"Oh it did," Ron says, laughing slightly. "But we worked it out in the end."

"Wait a minute! You knew about this?" I ask, rounding on Harry. "How could you let him come up with this stupid plan?"

"Hey," Ron starts, affronted, but I ignore him.

"Hey, don't look at me. I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen. I told him he should just tell you how he feels."

I scowl slightly, and Ginny laughs. I turn on her. "So did you know about this too?"

"Not explicitly. I kind of guessed as the goings went on, and Harry filled me in on the rest."

I glare at the two of them, but soon a smile takes over my face. "Well, you're lucky he didn't completely screw it up."

"They're lucky," Ron asks incredulously. "I think we're the lucky ones."

I smile, turning to him. "Oh? And why is that?"

"Cause we finally found our way to each other."

I smile again, my mild anger from earlier forgotten.

"You know Mr. Weasley," I start, draping my arms over his shoulders lightly and behind his head, "I think you're absolutely right."

Looking into each others eyes, there's no denying the moment. Leaning together, as one, we join our lips in our first ever good morning kiss. I was short and sweet, but held so much promise.

He looks at me for a moment, before saying, "Hogwarts gossip mill, here we come."

I can't help but laugh at the comment. As we return to our breakfasts, holding hands whenever possible under the table, I realize something for the first time, and smile.

I'm no longer waiting for Ron.

The End.