Chapter 7

~Ron's Point Of View~

I cleared my throat loudly. "Well! It's getting late. I'll head up to my room-our room-whatever-so I'll, uh, see you later."

Without waiting for an answer, I leapt from the table, and swiftly headed toward the elevator. I punched the up button and waited impatiently. The little numbers above were lighting up so slowly that I wondered if something had gone wrong. Out of frustration, I punched the button again, and the doors slid open. As soon as I got to the room, I threw myself into my own room and slammed that door as well.

"Whew!" I breathed. But what was the big deal anyway? I mean, I've had fantasies about Hermione and I sharing desserts for my entire life, so-wait, that's not what I meant. I MEANT that I USED to have those fantasies when I went to Hogwarts. I hadn't had them for YEARS. Yeah. So anyway, it's beyond me why I actually ran out on her if what had just happened down in the café would please my...uh...childhood self.

I heard the main door open and close softly, and I decided I would get ready for bed so that Hermione wouldn't have a chance to knock on my door and 'talk about it'. However, that didn't mean that thoughts about her didn't leave my mind, and my last conscious thought before I drifted off to sleep was that if things kept going the way they were, I never wanted this trip to end.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The next morning, most awkwardness was gone, apart from the abnormal formalness that took its place. I wasn't complaining though. And as for the rest of the day, it passed quickly while Hermione and I would attempt to avoid each other as politely as possible. If she was down in the fitness center, I was upstairs trying to crack the case for Beauxbatons; and when she was upstairs, I was downstairs taking a swim. It really worked out quite well.

But when the clock chimed 7 o'clock, we went into our separate rooms to prepare for our evening out. About fifteen minutes later, I glanced at myself quickly in the mirror. "How do I look?" I muttered. Waiting vainly for an answer, I tapped on the glass with annoyance before I remembered we were in a Muggle hotel. "Fine then, I guess I'll have to see for myself." I said.

I gave myself a critical once over and took in the entire look. I had tried to go a bit classic tonight, with my traditional tux that I'd brought with me, as well as my unruly hair tamed a bit with gel so that it would stand slightly spiked. Unwillingly, I glanced down on the bureau top where a single red rose lay alone. I knew that Hermione liked roses. And I knew that she would always deserve one. What I didn't know, though, was if I had bought it with completely platonic feelings toward her or if it was in hopes that her feelings would get better towards yours truly.

I lifted my arm as if it were a dead weight and picked up the rose. 'Here goes nothing.' I thought glumly. With an attitude of a determined soldier, I stepped out of the safety of my bedroom and into the darkened living quarters where the only light visible was filtering inside from the outdoor lamps. The change of atmosphere made me squint, trying to adjust my vision. A few moments later, with my eyes fully adjusted, I spotted Hermione inside her own bedroom since her door was cracked only a couple inches. She was standing before her mirror, fixing a tendril of her hair that had fallen out of its bun, and I could tell, even from this distance, that she was beautiful.

She must've sensed my gaze, because at that moment she glanced at me in the reflection of the mirror, and grinned sheepishly. She turned then and switched off her light, plunging both of us into pitch black. I heard the door creak open, and my eyes adjusted at a few moments later.

"Hi." she said.

The thick darkness in front of me thinned even more, and I was able to see Hermione's full appearance. I swear, my breathing seemed to become much more shallow. A simple black dress never seemed more elegant or perfect in all my life than it did at that moment. The thin straps looked to me as if they could snap at any second, the neck was low enough to make my heart pound while not really showing much at all, the hem ended about an inch above her knee, and the rest hugged her in all the right places.

I gulped. "You look lovely."

Even in the darkness, I could see her blush. "Thank you." She grinned again, then glanced curiously at the rose in my hands.

It snapped me back to reality. "This is for you." I said, embarrassed and regretting I'd thought to bring it in the first place. "I hope it doesn't seem to old fashioned or anything, but when I saw it today, I thought of you, and I just had-"

She took a step forward and gently took it from me. "Thank you. I love roses." She glanced up at me. "I didn't think you would remember that."

I grinned. "I remember quite a bit, Hermione." With that, I stepped forward and offered her my arm. "Shall we?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

~Hermione's Point Of View~

I took Ron's arm, ignoring the anxious fluttering in my stomach. "Of course." I said softly, smiling up at him.

We made our way to the elevator, and rode silently up to the highest floor. On the way, however, my thoughts were wandering helplessly.

My stomach was still fluttering, and although it was nerve-wracking, it was wonderful all the same. It was a feeling I hadn't had for a long, long while, and I realized that I had been missing it terribly. It was a quivering, excited feeling that I absolutely never felt around Viktor. It was a feeling that made you thrilled and terrified at the same time, and I tried to think back to when I had had that feeling before. My mind was racing, images were flashing before my eyes, and just as the elevator came to a halt and the doors slid open, Ron's face popped into my head.

I glanced up at the man himself. Ron. It had always been him. Why was I kidding myself before? Why had I been with Viktor all this time? When I was with Ron, everything seemed more intense. Not just my feelings, but everything. My surroundings. My sensed. It was insane.

"Well, here we are." Ron said, squeezing my arm softly in his. He led me out into the large room, which seemed to be a ballroom, where a small stage was set up in front where rows of chairs sat before it. A grand piano sat in the corner, emitting soft, peaceful tunes. There were about 50 people wandering around and mingling politely, but I realized quite quickly that each and every one of them looked to be at least 20 years older than Ron and I, and they were all speaking fluently and very quickly in French. Something I had not thought of before hand. My mind reeled through the few simple and basic sentences I knew of, but I also knew that none of them would do much good to these people.

A short, round woman with a blob of grey hair came hurrying over to us and asked a question so quickly that I barely heard 'bonjour'. I was about to ask her if she knew any English when Ron spoke up beside me.

"Salut, je m'appelle Ron Weasley et elle s'appelle Hermione Granger."

"Oui, merci." she said quickly, scribbling our names onto name tags and slapping them onto us before scurrying away.

I pulled my arm away from Ron and looked up at him, utterly bewildered. "What was that?!" I asked. "Since when do you know French?"

"Since four years ago. I figured it was about time I learn the language since our countries are fairly close together. I thought that maybe one day it would do me some good, and...now it has. Good thing, eh? Come on, let's mingle!" He took my arm again and led me into the crowd.

~*~*~*~*~*~

After an incredibly boring presentation from the Minister's daughter, Fluer (which made me very uncomfortable and brought back many unhappy memories, but Ron didn't seem affected by his memories, or her veela powers, which made me a tad bit happier), everyone had stood up to visit with each other once again. Ron had run off to the rest room a few moments before, leaving me to try to fend for myself with my minimal French abilities.

For the last few minutes, I was pretending to be incredibly fascinated by the food table, hoping no one would have the courage to approach me and begin a conversation. It was sad to think that Ron had pretty much done all the conversing that night, but it was true, and I wasn't about to try it out by myself.

I was just pouring myself a third glass of punch, when a hand on my arm not only startled me, but made me incredibly uneasy. How was I supposed to converse with this person? I slowly turned around, trying not to grimace, when I found Ron, grinning mysteriously.

I sighed, relieved. "Ron, don't do that. I thought I was going to have to try to speak some understandable Fr-what are you grinning about?"

"Okay, well, I was trying to find the loo, but I got a bit lost, and I stumbled onto this great-oh, come on, let me show you."

He grabbed my hand and continued to lead me through the throng of people, not moving fast enough to attract some unwanted attention. We went through the doors of the room, down the hallway, through a door, and finally stopped at another door with chipped white paint. He turned the doorknob, revealing a flight of steps.

"Ron, what's up there?"

"Shh."

He kept hold of my hand the entire way up, although I'm sure he didn't realize that, and it was no small feat, considering it was at least a couple of flights up. By the time we reached the top, we were both slightly out of breath, and we had only reached another door. Except this one, had a label on it, and it wasn't simply white:

'Roof Access'

"Are you sure we're allowed out there?" I whispered, not knowing why I was whispering.

"Of course! You'll see..."

And he pushed it open. There was a large space, surrounded by the building itself, which was creating a small fence. The top of this 'fence' was lined with lights, and pots of flowers and shrubs were scattered all over, creating a feeling of being on a mountain, not on top of a roof. There were a few benches here and there, and the floor was mounted with bricks instead of regular cement, and I was impressed by the quality of it. But the view was best. It was about 9:30pm, so Paris was dark. Well, as dark as a city like that can be at least. Lights were sparkling from cafes, street lamps, and most of all, the Eiffel Tower.

"Wow." I whispered. I stepped up to the edge, and held onto the 'fence', gazing out over the city.

"I know." Ron said. I felt him step up behind me and, softly, almost nervously, he wrapped his arms around my waist, lacing his fingers in front of me.

There was that feeling again. Fluttering.

I knew I was grinning like an idiot when I leaned my head back on his chest and placed my hands on top of his.

After a couple minutes of a silence, it was broken.

"Hermione?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm really glad it was you."

"What?"

"This job. I mean, I was kind of uneasy about who my partner in crime was going to be, and...well, out of everybody it could've been, I'm glad it was you."

I turned around to face him, and when his arms didn't leave my waist, I rested mine on his shoulders.

"Me too." I was quiet for a moment until I couldn't take it anymore. "All this fighting is so incredibly stupid! It's been five entire years, Ron! I mean, yeah, we had a fight, but who even remembers what that was about, right?"

He looked startled for a moment, then smiled broadly. One of those smiles that makes me melt. "Right. I've missed you, Mione."

My eyes darted back up to his when he said my nickname. I'd almost forgotten that. Almost. Whenever he would say that back at Hogwarts, I would always feel so special, and sometimes I wanted to pretend it was because I was his.

Just like now. All those feelings that I'd had back in Hogwarts came flooding back, and as much as I tried to forbid them, they pushed all the way through, reminding me of all the times that I was jealous of Lavender or obsessing over every single adorable thing that Ron does. How he'd run his hands through his hair when he was nervous, making it stand straight up. How he'd wrap me up in a hug whenever he was happy. Or how his eyebrows would come together whenever he was concentrating.

Like now. And his eyes were on my lips.

My eyes widened and I felt my heart beat excel to an extremely abnormal rate. I felt his breath coming closer on my face, and I was vaguely aware of him tilting his chin in order to get better access to my mouth. My heart seemed to be pounding in my ears as my eyelids slid shut, and I licked my lips anxiously. A moment later, I felt his lips touch mine.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Author's Note: AHHH! Cliffhanger, eh? I would really appreciate a review. Okay, now to more important stuff: I. Am. So. Sorry. I've been on vacation for a couple weeks, plus I've been really busy. But, ready? This is my goal. I want to be done with this fic by the time school starts. Cross your fingers! Please review. Flame me. Whatever. I just need something to keep me writing. In the next TWO days, I'll either have another chapter to this or "Friends...I Guess". I promise.

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