AN - Alert! Believe it or not, this is the final chapter. Such a surreal feeling when the end of a fic finally comes, huh? Well, I hope you've enjoyed reading it just as much as I have writing it!
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A Draught In Time:
Chapter 10
-dutchtulips-
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It was a thick fog, a haze, that seemed to surround him. Ron still felt drowsy, weak, as he lay in his bed with his eyes closed, wanting nothing else than to just sleep some more. He rolled over on his bed, and his arm swung out as he did, knocking against the nightstand.
"Ouch!" He cried out, and bolted upright. "Bugger..." He grumbled, putting his injured knuckles into his mouth. As he nursed his sore hand, Ron glanced around the room, and his fingers promptly dropped out of his mouth.
The other four beds of his roommates - Harry, Dean, Neville, and Seamus - all encircled the room. The silver water jug sat underneath the large, tall dormer window, and on the other side of the room sat the table, haphazardly scattered with spellbooks, quills, brass scales, and other sundries. Tucked away in one corner, Ron could see two glass tumblers sitting side-by-side, one filled with a dark blue liquid and the other filled with clear, almost like water.
The redhead hurriedly jumped out of bed, rushed over to the table, and picked them up. As he did, he noticed a roll of parchment that had been sitting next to them, and put down the glasses to pick it up. He unrolled the paper, and a growing realization welled up inside of him as he read the words. They were his notes he'd taken in Snape's class, for the belladonna antidote.
The parchment sprang back into a roll as the notes fell from his fingers, dropping softly to and rolling off of the tabletop. But Ron didn't stop to pick it back up; he was already out the dormitory door, racing for the stairs.
Once he reached the top landing, he paused for a moment to look down at the common room. It all felt so surreal. He closed his eyes for a minute, but when he opened them, the sight was still the same. Fred and George's fluxweed had done the trick. It had brought him back.
Nerves flooding into him, Ron took off down the staircase, causing somewhat of a din as he thundered down to the common room. Once his feet touched the floor he looked up, only to see that everyone was looking right back at him. Harry and Ginny, sitting together on the sofa, and Hermione, in her favorite chair, a book spread in her lap. Hermione...
"Hermione!" He exclaimed, springing over to where she was sitting. "You're... you're there! You're you! You're... sitting there!"
Confused, she closed her Arithmancy book, set it aside, and stood up. "Yes, Ron, it's me, here in the common room." Her expression melted to concern. "Are you all right?"
For a moment all he could do was stare at her. There she was, standing there, the same old uptight Hermione. But he smiled. That was going to change soon enough, knowing what he knew now. "It's just... You're in the common room!" Ron exclaimed, swinging his arms around her and hugging her. "And I'm in the common room! And so's Harry, and Ginny, and --" But his voice sort of drifted off, as he held her close to him. In many ways, she still felt exactly the same.
Hermione wriggled herself loose, just slightly, to look at him. "Ron, please calm down. You're babbling! Now tell me what's going on."
He smiled at her and she smiled back, although he could tell she still looked rather confused. By what he was saying, by how he was acting, by the way he was holding her...
"You really want to know?"
She nodded. "Of course! You're acting so strangely!"
Ron simpered at her. "I know!" He exclaimed, and then his pulse started to race as he knew what was coming next, what he was going to say, what he had to say. Everyone else in the common room seemed to disappear then. "You want to know why, don't you..." He started to reach for her hand, but as he did so, his wrist knocked against something in the pocket of his robes. A puzzled look crossed his face for a moment, wondering what he was. Looking down in his pocket, Ron could scarcely believe it. The book! I still have it! But how?
The question in his head dissipated though, as he realized what it meant. Grinning wider, he reached into his pocket and withdrew it. "Here... this is for you," Ron said softly, holding the book out to her.
Anne of Green Gables.
Hermione stared at the book, the title and the picture on the front cover, almost frozen. But her eyes were glittering, from her shock, as well as from the moisture gathering in her eyes. She finally took the book, gripped it tightly, turning it over in her hands several times, astonished. "Eight, nine years it's been... how did you... how did you know..." She whispered, bewildered.
She looked up at him finally, no longer looking confused or befuddled; insurmountable joy was now filling her smile, her eyes. Something else, too, something that Ron was able to recognize inspite of himself. Hermione actually looked hopeful, as if there were something specific she was waiting for, wanting from him...
... And he was only too happy to deliver.
"I just... I love you, Hermione," he told her, and with that admission it felt as if a large weight had been removed from his shoulders, "I really, really... love you..."
A lone tear dropped from her eye, but Hermione was grinning, smiling more brightly than Ron could ever remember seeing on her face. "You do?"
"Yeah," he said calmly, feeling enchanted. "I really do."
"I can't believe you... I can't believe it took you so long!" She suddenly exclaimed, nearly laughing at her own outburst. "I love you, too!"
Ron grinned and put his arms around her, hugging her tightly. As he did, he glanced over his shoulder, where he could see Harry and Ginny, still sitting on the sofa, looking amazed yet also extremely pleased.
"Are you sure you just don't love me for my stuff?" He joked as they let go, referring to Anne of Green Gables. "I mean, sure I can pull off this little miracle, but..."
"Of course I don't!" She laughed, hitting him on the shoulder. "I love you." Hermione glanced down at the book again. "But... thank you, so much, for this. I don't know how you ever found it, or how you even knew I wanted it, but I don't care. I'm glad you did. You've given me the world, Ronald Weasley."
He blushed, just slightly, at her words. "You mind if I give you something else?"
"What?"
But Ron didn't answer with words; clutching Hermione's waist and drawing her nearer to him, he leaned in close, closer... and then their mouths met in a warm, tender kiss. They mingled for a several minutes, savoring in the emotion of the moment, it being something each other them had wanted for so long.
Finally it ended, and Ron opened his eyes to see Hermione smiling lovingly at him. "Just as good as the book," she said, and giggled.
The book? The thought of it had almost been washed away from his brain, as he was still reeling from the kiss. Then suddenly the sight of the bookstore flashed into his mind, back to when Hermione told him about her longtime search for the book, and he remembered something.
Ron's hand dived into the pocket of his robes, where he found his wand. Pulling it out, he held it up and, concentrating deftly, quickly muttered a spell. "Orchideous."
From the tip of his wand, a small nosegay of gardenias sprouted forth, and Ron snatched them off the wand. Handing them to her, he said, grinning furtively, "A book and flowers. Just as good as Valentine's, eh? Only you're the only girl I know that would rather have a book than a big sappy card. But, to be honest," he gave a good-natured shrug, "that's the only way I'd ever want you to be."
Hermione beamed again and wrapped her arms around him fervently, in a bone-crushing hug, and then tilted her head up and gave Ron a great big kiss.
"Sheesh, you two!" Ginny exclaimed several minutes later, managing to sound both exasperated and cheerful at the same time. "Get a room!"
Hermione laughed through the kiss, breaking it prematurely. "Oh, clam up, you!"
Over on the sofa next to Ginny, Harry too was grinning. "Well, bugger, it's taken them this long already, you might as well let them have at it." And then everyone laughed.
Ron gave his future wife another small kiss, and then leaned back to look at her, an amused glint in his eye. "Just one more thing."
"What?" Hermione simpered back.
"You were right about the knotgrass."
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Finis.
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Did you notice what I did in this last chapter, the sort-of symbolism? You might recall in chapter three that Harry told Ron that he (Ron) gave Hermione a book, a flower, and a card for Valentine's Day as the way to tell her how he really feels about her. But it wouldn't end up happening that way because by traveling to and coming back from the future, Ron changed the past - by telling Hermione how he felt as soon as he could. And how did those events unfold, here in the final chapter? Almost exactly like future-Harry said they had. Only with a different twist. I actually did that on purpose, to foreshadow the story's conclusion. Little genius, aren't I? ;-)
In turn, you might also have noticed the subtlety of something else I did within the fic. In chapter seven, when Ron and Hermione are lying in bed and she's telling him about what happened when they first said "I love you" to each other, the memory of it might have struck you here in the final scene. Because, after all, in essence - the events that played out in this last chapter were almost exactly what Hermione was recalling in the future. And the reason I say "almost"? By Hermione giving Ron this information, his present time would be altered yet again. I noticed a few of you were confused that Harry's memory of Ron and Hermione finally confessing their love (in chapter three) was not at all Hermione's (chapter seven). Why did that change? Because the longer Ron remained in the future, he was simultaneously altering past events. Time is a fragile thing, huh? ;-)
I guess it's no mystery, especially with the publication of this fic, that the whole time travel thing really fascinates me. Hell, I'm a major Back to the Future junkie, what else did you expect? ;-) I'm happy I finally got to do a fic like this, because of my love for the fantasy/time-travel genre. ;-) So thanks muchly for your reviews and support!
Which brings me to letting out a big gigantic "¡Muchas gracias!" to all of the people who have been reading and reviewing! To each and every one of YOU - thanks so much for your kind words, praise, and compliments! I'm glad you've stuck with the fic and have enjoyed it so much.
Thank you tons for reading and for making this fic such a success. Please review!
