Mistakes Happen
Chapter 8
AN: I had half this chapter typed, then had to hurry to get out of it, and my computer deleted the entire thing! So now I'm starting over! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!! Computers are evil, computers are evil, computers are evil...
~Ron's Point Of View~
I couldn't believe what I had done. My heart was beating strangely fast, and when I began to feel dizzy, I realized that I would have thought I had been having a heart attack if it weren't for my acute awareness of the closeness of Hermione's body. When I felt Hermione gasp as our lips touched, I fully considered staying up there on that roof with her for the rest of my life.
But then I felt her flick her tongue across my bottom lip, and I knew I must have been shaking as I deemed her access. Gently, she began to explore my mouth and I thought I might die from the adrenaline rushing past my ears. I began to pull her closer, not fully aware of my intentions, when-
SPLAT!
The clouds above us broke, and plump raindrops scattered across our faces and the rest of the roof, creating the sound of rice being dropped. We broke apart, squinting in confusion, and I saw Hermione stretch out her fingers in disbelief.
"Perfect timing, huh?" I asked.
She laughed aloud, first quietly, then in extreme, as if the funniest thing had just happened. After a few moments, I joined her, and we stood there, on a rooftop in Paris, being soaked to the bone, and in hysterics. Finally, after we'd calmed down, I reached out a dripping hand.
"Shall we?" I asked.
She smiled and took it. Together we darted through the nearest doorway, down the stairs, and through the banquet, avoiding curious glances all the way. Slipping and squeaking all the way down the polished hallways, we eventually reached the elevators.
After getting out of the elevator a few moments later, silence had enveloped us once again. Still joined at the hands, but barely noticing, we reached our room and entered inside.
The room was dark, and after the door had been shut, my throat dried. Was I supposed to say something? Kiss her again? I knew one thing for certain, and that was that I didn't want this night to end. Not now. Not even close.
But before I could make a decision, Hermione reached over and hit the light switch, flooding the room with a yellow dim. I glanced at Hermione and my breath caught. She was looking at me, smiling shyly, tiny droplets sliding down her face and hair. Her dress was soaked, clinging to her body, and she was wringing her hands in front of her. I was mesmerized.
"Mione," I whispered, taking a step closer. Clumsily, I brought my hand up to her cheek, cupping it lightly, and wiped away the drops from her face. After they were gone, I had no intention of taking my hand away. We stood, simply staring at each other, when she brought her own hand up to cover mine, and gently took my hand from her face.
"I had fun tonight, Ron," she said quietly.
Fun?! Is that all it was to her? Tonight was so much more to me that I could even begin to explain it. But I was about to try.
"Hermione, I-"
But she didn't let me finish. She took a turn stepping closer, kissed me softly on the cheek, and whispered, "A lot of fun."
Then before I could do anything, she turned, went into her bedroom, clicking the door softly behind her. And I couldn't help but smile. "Me too, Mione. Me too." I whispered to the night, glancing quickly at the Eiffel Tower before I turned to my own room.
~*~*~*~*~*~
A week later, after zero success in the map issue, Hermione and I were getting a bit frustrated. We'd spent hours in local libraries, both public and magical, because we needed all the help we could get. Hours and hours more were spent trying to break the map's spell, but nothing worked. Nothing.
One night, I went down to the hotel's fitness center (which I found extremely interesting) and lifted weights for a while to relieve some stress. When I reentered the hotel room, towel-drying my face, I was met with a flustered looking Hermione gripping her wand in one hand and the map in the other, glaring harshly at it.
As I took a few hesitant steps in the room, I smiled in amusement at the quills, books, and tattered pieces of parchment scattered across the living quarters' floor and coffee table. It seemed to resemble how disorderly Hermione seemed lately.
"Pieces of parchment don't usually take threats very well, you know." I said jokingly.
She jumped, darting her eyes to the door, then relaxing when she saw it was me. "Oh. Ron."
"Please keep your enthusiasm down. It really gets to me after a while." I said, leaning into my room to toss the towel on the floor. When I came back out, I saw that she had set down the wand and parchment, and had continued to slump against the back of the couch.
"Sorry. It's just...this is so maddening! We've tried every single directional spell, revealing charm, and spell breaker that we know of! What else is there?" She rolled her eyes and brought her fingers to her temples, massaging them lightly. "We even tried 'I honestly swear I am up to no good', and that's pretty desperate."
I stood rooted to my spot in the doorway, completely lost as to what I should do. In a perfect scenario, I would wrap my arms around her and whisper soothing words in her ear, but at the moment, I wasn't sure if I had permission. In the past week, we hadn't said anything about our kiss...not one word...and it almost seemed as if it had never happened. I was even beginning to wonder myself.
So I did the next best thing I could think of.
Stepping up directly behind her and the couch, I slid my fingers onto her shoulders, kneading gently at her muscles, attempting to smooth away all of the tension. She stiffened in surprise at first, then relaxed and leaned forward a bit. I smiled at this, knowing that she wanted me to continue, and I worked my way down her shoulder blades toward her spine. I heard her sigh softly as I swept my fingers up to her shoulders again, reaching across slightly to her collarbone. I was surprised to feel her shiver quickly, goose bumps rising up on her skin. She dipped her head forward even more, and as her hair fell away from her shoulders, I had to bite my lip.
I looked down at her slim neck, which had been covered by curls just moments before. My fingers continued on their journey across her back with a mind of their own, as I allowed myself to gaze at the silky flesh in front of me. I found myself wondering what it would feel like against my fingers, and even...what it would taste like.
I immediately felt embarrassed for thinking thoughts that were so inappropriate. Yes, we had kissed, but I didn't know if she regretted it. Or even remembered it. Besides, it was just so...
I felt my willpower begin to drain away as I began to lean forward, my mind completely separated from my body. My body seemed very interested, while my mind was trying to get some sense into me: "Stop while you still can, Ron. This is going too far. Do you hear me? DON'T BE A PRAT!"
But I didn't listen. I couldn't. Finally, my fingers faltered, resting on her shoulders, and I became insanely close.
"Mione," I whispered hoarsely.
She turned her head slightly, still surprised at the nickname, but too relaxed to do much about it. It was at that moment that my lips touched her neck, slightly below her right ear.
She gasped again, just like she had done when we were on the rooftop last week. My hands sprung to life again, sliding down her back and across her waist, resting on her stomach. After a few moments of shallow breathing from both of us, she tilted her head slightly to the left, as if to give me more access to her neck, and even though I couldn't see her, I knew her eyes had closed. As she rested her hands over mine, she made a small, pleased sound in the back of her throat, and I felt my body throb. I had never heard her make a sound like that.
My hands went from her stomach to her hips, and I slid my lips down her neck, in a way in which I hoped was painfully slowly, onto the curve of her shoulder, and forward onto her collarbone: a place that I remembered was rather vulnerable.
I felt her take in a sharp, shaky breath, gulping loudly. "Ron," she muttered.
"Hmm?" I was too distracted.
"Do you...I mean...should we..."
BAM!
We flew apart, searching wildly for the source of our interruption. Finally, I saw a gigantic black owl sitting outside on the terrace. It glared harshly at us, as if it thought we had been doing something wrong. I nudged Hermione, pointing over at the window. At her glance, it hooted in a low tone, challenging Hermione to come to him.
"You know him?" I asked.
But she didn't answer me. It seemed as though she was half guilty, just looking at the bird, and half annoyed that it had had the nerve to interrupt us.
As she made her way over to the sliding door, she remembered the question I had asked and nodded slowly. "Yes," she said, a slight tone of dislike edging forward, "it's mine. And Viktor's."
Oh man. Why now? In the middle of...this? I felt like the two of us were actually getting somewhere, and then VICKY had to interrupt us.
Vicky. I felt my blood begin to boil. He was the reason Hermione and I had been in a fight for so long, and the last thing I wanted was to get his...intimate position with Hermione thrown in my face. Over the five-year estrangement between Hermione and I, I'll admit that I had thought about her sometimes. Quite a lot actually. During that time, when someone would mention Krum, it would make me feel sick. But, strangely, over the past few days, I hadn't remembered that she was with him. Not once. It wasn't like she hadn't helped me, though. She never mentioned him or showed any sign of remembrance of him as we kissed. In fact, it was almost like she wanted to...go farther.
"What does he want?" I asked, my voice low with dislike.
She didn't answer as she ripped open the envelope, as if to get the letter over with as soon as humanly possible, and begin to read. At first, her eyes scanned quickly. Soon, though, they would falter on some words, her eyebrows would rise, and before I knew what was happening, her eyes filled with tears.
"Mione?" I asked, somewhat urgently.
She ignored me again, still reading. Slowly, she walked over to the couch opposite me, sat down, finished reading, and burst into tears.
I stared at her for a moment, unable to comprehend why she would cry over Krum. But, finally remembering where I was and what I should be doing, I hurried over to her, crouching next to her on the floor, my hand resting on her knee.
"What is it?"
She sobbed harder than I had ever seen her. Her body rocked with violent cries, but she eventually managed to choke out a few mangled sentences.
"Viktor...(choke)...he wrote (hiccup) to say...(sob)...to say that he had...had...(hiccup) had found someone...(pause)...else." At this, she looked up at me urgently, her eyes searching mine, as if to explain herself. "He broke up with me. But, Ron, I didn't even like him! It was like we were on opposite ends of the earth, just happening to live under one roof. He'd be gone for months at a time, but when he was home...he couldn't even say my name." She burst into tears again. "He couldn't even pronounce it properly, Ron! God, why am I so upset? I didn't even like him, much less LOVE him. And I lived with him for an entire three years."
She leaned back now with silent, less violent tears now streaming down her cheeks. I waited patiently, just sitting there with her, until:
"You were right," she said suddenly, her voice ringing with clarity.
"Pardon?"
"You were right." she said more quietly. "Five years ago, you told me that the only reason I went with Viktor was because I'm not as independent as I seem. Apparently, that's how I'm turning out to be."
I shook my head hurriedly. "No, Mione, listen, I-"
"No, you listen! Viktor was the only one who ever made me feel special. I fell for it. I saw myself as an obnoxious know-it-all, and I didn't want to be alone for the rest of my life. So...I grabbed the first guy that came along."
She was looking at the ceiling in agony, as if she couldn't believe what she had done. "I guess if anyone else had ever shown any kind of interest, I might've turned out different. But, this is who I am now. And," she paused as another batch of tears flowed down her face, "it's pathetic."
At this, she brought her knees up to her chin, sobbing silently, indicating that all conversation was over. Trying to be a bit comforting, I climbed up on the couch next to her and put my arm around her shoulders, bringing her face to my shoulder. She seemed to find this consoling, and she wrapped her arms around my torso, clinging onto my shirt desperately, her body beginning to shake with silent cries once more.
I sat there beside her, allowing her tears to dampen my shirt, and for the life of me, I couldn't think of what to say. Of course, I could admit that Krum had never been the only one who had interest in her, but...no.
So I didn't say anything at all.
~*~*~*~
AN: Hermione's point of view next time! Sorry for the...five months was it? Anyways, sorry for the wait. Please review if you have any comment whatsoever. Praise, disgust, whatever, just press the button. Happy New Year!
Chapter 8
AN: I had half this chapter typed, then had to hurry to get out of it, and my computer deleted the entire thing! So now I'm starting over! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!! Computers are evil, computers are evil, computers are evil...
~Ron's Point Of View~
I couldn't believe what I had done. My heart was beating strangely fast, and when I began to feel dizzy, I realized that I would have thought I had been having a heart attack if it weren't for my acute awareness of the closeness of Hermione's body. When I felt Hermione gasp as our lips touched, I fully considered staying up there on that roof with her for the rest of my life.
But then I felt her flick her tongue across my bottom lip, and I knew I must have been shaking as I deemed her access. Gently, she began to explore my mouth and I thought I might die from the adrenaline rushing past my ears. I began to pull her closer, not fully aware of my intentions, when-
SPLAT!
The clouds above us broke, and plump raindrops scattered across our faces and the rest of the roof, creating the sound of rice being dropped. We broke apart, squinting in confusion, and I saw Hermione stretch out her fingers in disbelief.
"Perfect timing, huh?" I asked.
She laughed aloud, first quietly, then in extreme, as if the funniest thing had just happened. After a few moments, I joined her, and we stood there, on a rooftop in Paris, being soaked to the bone, and in hysterics. Finally, after we'd calmed down, I reached out a dripping hand.
"Shall we?" I asked.
She smiled and took it. Together we darted through the nearest doorway, down the stairs, and through the banquet, avoiding curious glances all the way. Slipping and squeaking all the way down the polished hallways, we eventually reached the elevators.
After getting out of the elevator a few moments later, silence had enveloped us once again. Still joined at the hands, but barely noticing, we reached our room and entered inside.
The room was dark, and after the door had been shut, my throat dried. Was I supposed to say something? Kiss her again? I knew one thing for certain, and that was that I didn't want this night to end. Not now. Not even close.
But before I could make a decision, Hermione reached over and hit the light switch, flooding the room with a yellow dim. I glanced at Hermione and my breath caught. She was looking at me, smiling shyly, tiny droplets sliding down her face and hair. Her dress was soaked, clinging to her body, and she was wringing her hands in front of her. I was mesmerized.
"Mione," I whispered, taking a step closer. Clumsily, I brought my hand up to her cheek, cupping it lightly, and wiped away the drops from her face. After they were gone, I had no intention of taking my hand away. We stood, simply staring at each other, when she brought her own hand up to cover mine, and gently took my hand from her face.
"I had fun tonight, Ron," she said quietly.
Fun?! Is that all it was to her? Tonight was so much more to me that I could even begin to explain it. But I was about to try.
"Hermione, I-"
But she didn't let me finish. She took a turn stepping closer, kissed me softly on the cheek, and whispered, "A lot of fun."
Then before I could do anything, she turned, went into her bedroom, clicking the door softly behind her. And I couldn't help but smile. "Me too, Mione. Me too." I whispered to the night, glancing quickly at the Eiffel Tower before I turned to my own room.
~*~*~*~*~*~
A week later, after zero success in the map issue, Hermione and I were getting a bit frustrated. We'd spent hours in local libraries, both public and magical, because we needed all the help we could get. Hours and hours more were spent trying to break the map's spell, but nothing worked. Nothing.
One night, I went down to the hotel's fitness center (which I found extremely interesting) and lifted weights for a while to relieve some stress. When I reentered the hotel room, towel-drying my face, I was met with a flustered looking Hermione gripping her wand in one hand and the map in the other, glaring harshly at it.
As I took a few hesitant steps in the room, I smiled in amusement at the quills, books, and tattered pieces of parchment scattered across the living quarters' floor and coffee table. It seemed to resemble how disorderly Hermione seemed lately.
"Pieces of parchment don't usually take threats very well, you know." I said jokingly.
She jumped, darting her eyes to the door, then relaxing when she saw it was me. "Oh. Ron."
"Please keep your enthusiasm down. It really gets to me after a while." I said, leaning into my room to toss the towel on the floor. When I came back out, I saw that she had set down the wand and parchment, and had continued to slump against the back of the couch.
"Sorry. It's just...this is so maddening! We've tried every single directional spell, revealing charm, and spell breaker that we know of! What else is there?" She rolled her eyes and brought her fingers to her temples, massaging them lightly. "We even tried 'I honestly swear I am up to no good', and that's pretty desperate."
I stood rooted to my spot in the doorway, completely lost as to what I should do. In a perfect scenario, I would wrap my arms around her and whisper soothing words in her ear, but at the moment, I wasn't sure if I had permission. In the past week, we hadn't said anything about our kiss...not one word...and it almost seemed as if it had never happened. I was even beginning to wonder myself.
So I did the next best thing I could think of.
Stepping up directly behind her and the couch, I slid my fingers onto her shoulders, kneading gently at her muscles, attempting to smooth away all of the tension. She stiffened in surprise at first, then relaxed and leaned forward a bit. I smiled at this, knowing that she wanted me to continue, and I worked my way down her shoulder blades toward her spine. I heard her sigh softly as I swept my fingers up to her shoulders again, reaching across slightly to her collarbone. I was surprised to feel her shiver quickly, goose bumps rising up on her skin. She dipped her head forward even more, and as her hair fell away from her shoulders, I had to bite my lip.
I looked down at her slim neck, which had been covered by curls just moments before. My fingers continued on their journey across her back with a mind of their own, as I allowed myself to gaze at the silky flesh in front of me. I found myself wondering what it would feel like against my fingers, and even...what it would taste like.
I immediately felt embarrassed for thinking thoughts that were so inappropriate. Yes, we had kissed, but I didn't know if she regretted it. Or even remembered it. Besides, it was just so...
I felt my willpower begin to drain away as I began to lean forward, my mind completely separated from my body. My body seemed very interested, while my mind was trying to get some sense into me: "Stop while you still can, Ron. This is going too far. Do you hear me? DON'T BE A PRAT!"
But I didn't listen. I couldn't. Finally, my fingers faltered, resting on her shoulders, and I became insanely close.
"Mione," I whispered hoarsely.
She turned her head slightly, still surprised at the nickname, but too relaxed to do much about it. It was at that moment that my lips touched her neck, slightly below her right ear.
She gasped again, just like she had done when we were on the rooftop last week. My hands sprung to life again, sliding down her back and across her waist, resting on her stomach. After a few moments of shallow breathing from both of us, she tilted her head slightly to the left, as if to give me more access to her neck, and even though I couldn't see her, I knew her eyes had closed. As she rested her hands over mine, she made a small, pleased sound in the back of her throat, and I felt my body throb. I had never heard her make a sound like that.
My hands went from her stomach to her hips, and I slid my lips down her neck, in a way in which I hoped was painfully slowly, onto the curve of her shoulder, and forward onto her collarbone: a place that I remembered was rather vulnerable.
I felt her take in a sharp, shaky breath, gulping loudly. "Ron," she muttered.
"Hmm?" I was too distracted.
"Do you...I mean...should we..."
BAM!
We flew apart, searching wildly for the source of our interruption. Finally, I saw a gigantic black owl sitting outside on the terrace. It glared harshly at us, as if it thought we had been doing something wrong. I nudged Hermione, pointing over at the window. At her glance, it hooted in a low tone, challenging Hermione to come to him.
"You know him?" I asked.
But she didn't answer me. It seemed as though she was half guilty, just looking at the bird, and half annoyed that it had had the nerve to interrupt us.
As she made her way over to the sliding door, she remembered the question I had asked and nodded slowly. "Yes," she said, a slight tone of dislike edging forward, "it's mine. And Viktor's."
Oh man. Why now? In the middle of...this? I felt like the two of us were actually getting somewhere, and then VICKY had to interrupt us.
Vicky. I felt my blood begin to boil. He was the reason Hermione and I had been in a fight for so long, and the last thing I wanted was to get his...intimate position with Hermione thrown in my face. Over the five-year estrangement between Hermione and I, I'll admit that I had thought about her sometimes. Quite a lot actually. During that time, when someone would mention Krum, it would make me feel sick. But, strangely, over the past few days, I hadn't remembered that she was with him. Not once. It wasn't like she hadn't helped me, though. She never mentioned him or showed any sign of remembrance of him as we kissed. In fact, it was almost like she wanted to...go farther.
"What does he want?" I asked, my voice low with dislike.
She didn't answer as she ripped open the envelope, as if to get the letter over with as soon as humanly possible, and begin to read. At first, her eyes scanned quickly. Soon, though, they would falter on some words, her eyebrows would rise, and before I knew what was happening, her eyes filled with tears.
"Mione?" I asked, somewhat urgently.
She ignored me again, still reading. Slowly, she walked over to the couch opposite me, sat down, finished reading, and burst into tears.
I stared at her for a moment, unable to comprehend why she would cry over Krum. But, finally remembering where I was and what I should be doing, I hurried over to her, crouching next to her on the floor, my hand resting on her knee.
"What is it?"
She sobbed harder than I had ever seen her. Her body rocked with violent cries, but she eventually managed to choke out a few mangled sentences.
"Viktor...(choke)...he wrote (hiccup) to say...(sob)...to say that he had...had...(hiccup) had found someone...(pause)...else." At this, she looked up at me urgently, her eyes searching mine, as if to explain herself. "He broke up with me. But, Ron, I didn't even like him! It was like we were on opposite ends of the earth, just happening to live under one roof. He'd be gone for months at a time, but when he was home...he couldn't even say my name." She burst into tears again. "He couldn't even pronounce it properly, Ron! God, why am I so upset? I didn't even like him, much less LOVE him. And I lived with him for an entire three years."
She leaned back now with silent, less violent tears now streaming down her cheeks. I waited patiently, just sitting there with her, until:
"You were right," she said suddenly, her voice ringing with clarity.
"Pardon?"
"You were right." she said more quietly. "Five years ago, you told me that the only reason I went with Viktor was because I'm not as independent as I seem. Apparently, that's how I'm turning out to be."
I shook my head hurriedly. "No, Mione, listen, I-"
"No, you listen! Viktor was the only one who ever made me feel special. I fell for it. I saw myself as an obnoxious know-it-all, and I didn't want to be alone for the rest of my life. So...I grabbed the first guy that came along."
She was looking at the ceiling in agony, as if she couldn't believe what she had done. "I guess if anyone else had ever shown any kind of interest, I might've turned out different. But, this is who I am now. And," she paused as another batch of tears flowed down her face, "it's pathetic."
At this, she brought her knees up to her chin, sobbing silently, indicating that all conversation was over. Trying to be a bit comforting, I climbed up on the couch next to her and put my arm around her shoulders, bringing her face to my shoulder. She seemed to find this consoling, and she wrapped her arms around my torso, clinging onto my shirt desperately, her body beginning to shake with silent cries once more.
I sat there beside her, allowing her tears to dampen my shirt, and for the life of me, I couldn't think of what to say. Of course, I could admit that Krum had never been the only one who had interest in her, but...no.
So I didn't say anything at all.
~*~*~*~
AN: Hermione's point of view next time! Sorry for the...five months was it? Anyways, sorry for the wait. Please review if you have any comment whatsoever. Praise, disgust, whatever, just press the button. Happy New Year!
