Mistakes Happen

Chapter 10

Ron's Point Of View-

"I'll be right back." Hermione said, setting her espresso down on the table. She smiled at me as she stood up and began her way towards the loo.

I smiled back. It wasn't the responding kind of smile, the smile that's forced and created only to please the person who initiated the smile in the first place. It was the kind of smile that I had been working hard on constricting for most of the afternoon. The kind of smile that would give away the secrets that I had buried beneath my neutral expressions. The kind of smile that released all of the pent up passions that I had boiling inside of me; happiness, excitement, fulfillment, and love. Love. And it scared me.

I glanced down at my watch in an attempt to hide my glee, and the hands indicated that it was one o'clock. One o'clock! The day had flown by. I leaned back in the constricting café chair as best I could and reflected on the amazing day that we had had so far.

Hand in hand, we had eagerly exited our hotel and wandered somewhat aimlessly around the ancient, beautiful city of Paris. While Hermione had visited France many times in her childhood with her parents, it had been years since her last trip and she shared in my excitement. We had already experienced the Louvre, the Seine, L'arc de Triomphe, and now, the notorious café. Throughout the day, Hermione and I had been just like old friends. Which we were. But there was no awkwardness of any kind. There was a sense of old comfort as well as new excitement between us, and it was obviously making both us giddy.

Hermione slid her chair out in front of me and sat down in it once again. This successfully snapped me out of my trance and I blinked up at her. "This has been fun today," she said quietly.

"Yeah, well it's not over yet." I said jokingly. I reached for my mocha and brought it up to my nose, inhaling the strong, rich scent. "Oh Merlin, I love coffee."

Hermione glanced up at me and laughed loudly. "You…you…oh never mind." She covered her mouth and every few seconds, her shoulders would shake with suppressed laughter.

"What?" I asked accusingly. I could feel my cheeks turning red. Had I done something stupid?

Finally, after taking a deep breath, she reached forward and, with her index finger, touched the tip of my nose. When she retracted her arm, I could see whipped cream on her finger.

I joined her laughter and modestly wiped it away from my face with my napkin, but just as I had finished cleaning, she smeared the bit that was on her finger across my cheek.

I decided not to even acknowledge what she had done. Instead I took another sip of my coffee, and as she bent down to sip her own espresso, I quickly dipped my finger into my mug and smeared the last bit of whipped cream on her hand, the only area that I could reach.

She snorted into her mug. "I will not have this." She said, raising her nose into the air as if she were royalty. "Remove it immediately." I could see her grin through the façade.

I shrugged, and reached for her hand. Lightly, I kissed it, erasing all of the cream. Now she was fully smiling at me, and I could see something gleaming in her eye. There was a moment of silence where she sat there simply staring at me. For me the situation was half uncomfortable and half addicting. It was like a horrible scene that you couldn't look away from. Magnetic.

Then, as if coming from her daydream, she pushed herself up from her chair and leaned forward. Her brown curls tumbled across her shoulders and I felt myself becoming weaker at her nearness. She was a centimeter away from my mouth when I closed my eyes, but instead I felt her lips graze my cheek, quickly licking off what she had left. My heart beat accelerated, and I glanced at her as she returned to her seat. I silently wondered if she had had this same reaction when I had kissed her hand.

I chuckled softly and so did she. It was as if we were both aware of our power over the other.

"You know," she said at last, as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. "I'm really glad that we were sent here in particular. There's nothing like France. It stands out from all the other countries in the world."

"I know," I said, nodding. "The food is amazing."

She rolled her eyes. "That is so like you. But that's not what I'm talking about. There's so much history—"

"You would say that."

She raised an eyebrow. "I'm not finished." She said teasingly. "What I mean is, the people are so comfortable with themselves. It's their culture. Everything they do is with passion, whether it's eating, shopping, working, or...loving. It's beautiful. They're a beautiful people in a beautiful country."

I watched as she sat, gazing at her coffee cup thoughtfully, her index finger lightly circling the top. Her expression seemed of total admiration and I felt a sudden pang of wanting to contribute. "I agree, but we haven't seen the best of it yet. What do you say we go and visit the Eiffel Tower?"

It wouldn't be correct to say that her face lit up. It was more like happiness melted across her features. She looked relaxed and happy and...I couldn't help but think how I lucky I was that this was aimed at me.

She opened her mouth to answer, but before a sound could escape, MinisterDelacour appeared beside our table, worry lines creasing his forehead. "Mademoiselle Granger, Monsieur Weasley, I must speak quickly. However, don't look at me s'il vous plait.I am currently invisible to Mugglesand I don't wantyou two do draw attention to us."

Hermione and I instantly looked at each other, as if we were having a regular conversation.

"One of the students has become very ill. We need to gether out now! I need you to find a safe place to apparate and meet me by the front gates of the school immediately. Remember, it's urgent!" And with that, the Minister disapparated once more.

As soon as he had gone, Hermione and I calmly left the cafe, then instantly ran toward a dark alley that we had seen on our way in. Quickly, we apparated into our hotel room to pick up the map, then to the school.

I felt the familiar thud of my feet landing heavily on the ground. I knew I probably looked quite disheveled from the apparating, but when I looked over at Hermione, I knew I wasn't alone. Her white dress was sticking to her, which I would never complain about, and she looked positively frantic.

"We never should have gone out today, Ron. This girl could die just because we weren't prepared!" She was wringing her hands, yet I could see the wheels turning in her head, searching for any solution that we hadn't tried yet.

It was then that we looked up at the school for the first time. The school itself was a beautiful, magnificent castle from centuries ago, but that wasn't what was keeping our attention. There was an intimidating, glittering dome, which must have been the shield, covering the entire grounds. If a person could imagine what Muggle electricity looked like, this would be it.

"Hmm." I said thoughtfully. "That looks friendly."

AN: Two chapters at the most left. Can you believe that this has taken me more than two years to write! I'm surprised I'm still doing it, haha! Anyway, review. Don't worry, I haven't even posted this chapter yet, and I'm writing the next. For those of you who have been with me for a while, I know you're getting annoyed. But bare with me! We're almost done!

See that lil button down there? It's called a review. And it wouldbe lovely.