A/N: I just wanted to take a second to thank all my reviewers! Without you guys I probably wouldn't continue the story. I especially want to thank Nukku, nattattude, Forever His, classicaldancer, raisa, Burnt Reflections, and maddudewalking for reviewing more than once, and most of all Hermione at 24 for reviewing 8 times! I love you all, and this chapter is dedicated to you.

Chapter 16 – Goodbyes, Tears, and Kisses

Hermione tossed her last article of clothing into a suitcase and then closed it and locked it. She stared at the once filled room, which was now barren and lonely. She was leaving.

"Hermione!" She heard Jessica call from the other room. "Hurry up!"

She walked out into the living room dragging her suitcase behind her. "Geez, what's the hurry? We still have like… 3 hours before my train leaves."

"Yeah! But I want to make the best of them!" She said throwing her arm over Hermione's shoulder. "Come on. We have to go get Pammy."

The walked down the hallways until they ended up in front of Pammy's door. They knocked loudly. No one answered. "Pammy?" Hermione called in.

"I bet she's sleeping. Let's just go in. She won't care." Jessica said, opening the door and slipping in. Hermione followed hesitantly.

The room was pitch black and silent. "I don't know if this is a good idea…" Hermione started, but all of a sudden the light flicked on.

"SURPRISE!" Yelled Pammy, Ben, Chance, and Jessica in unison.

"Holy shit! You almost gave me a heart attack!" She laughed, then looked around the room. It was covered in streamers and balloons with one big cake right in the middle of the table. "Aww… you guys didn't have to do this…"

"Yes we did." Pammy stated. "You're leaving!"

"Okay, I think its time to eat that." Jessica said, eyeing the cake hungrily.

"I second that motion!" Hermione agreed. They all dug into the cake taking happily, until Hermione broke the conversation.

"You guys, I would love to stay here forever and talk with you… but its only an hour until my train leaves and I should go."

They all got up, walking her to the door.

She hugged Chance first, for she knew him the least. "Bye Chance." She said sadly.

Next was Ben. She hugged him also and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll miss you!" He burst into tears.

Pammy stared at her with a smile. "I know we didn't except you at first, but now you are DEFINATLY one of the gang." She said, giving her a hug.

"I'll miss you!" Hermione sniffled, trying to keep herself together.

Last was Jessica. Hermione couldn't believe she was actually leaving… she wouldn't live with Jessica any more… It was like a piece of her would be missing! A tear dropped down her cheek. "Bye…" She said softly.

"Hey… this isn't goodbye. Its more of… I'll see you soon!" But then despite her last words, several tears leaked out the corner of her blue eyes also. She sniffled. "I promised myself I wouldn't do this!" She said, wiping away the tears.

Hermione embraced her and they hugged for several minutes until Pammy interrupted.

"Hey… Hermione? You really should go… it's only half an hour until you train leaves."

"Right." Said Hermione, grabbing her bags and taking a deep breath. "Well. I love you guys! I will miss you all so much!"

"Bye!" They all shouted, waving madly, as she walked away.

When Hermione got outside she found that the weather matched her mood exactly. It was pouring rain and practically freezing. "Great." She muttered to herself. "The day I leave has to be the ONE day that isn't sunny and beautiful." She tugged at her jacket trying to pull it as tight as she could. The walk to the train was not going to be a short one.

All of a sudden she heard someone call her name, and she whipped around. From far away she could just make out a figure running towards her. He was tall… with black hair… and blue streaks.

"Chance?" She asked confusedly.

He jogged up to her. "Hermione," He repeated panting.

"Uh…" She spluttered. "Yeah?"

"I couldn't let you leave without this." And with that he leaned down and kissed her softly.

XXX

Hermione had thought about the current confusions for the whole train ride, yet she still had no clue what it all meant. 'What the hell just happened?' She asked herself.

FLASHBACK-

He pulled away slowly, leaving her shocked. "Huh?" Was all she could utter.

"Hermione… I've liked you the whole summer. Couldn't you tell? I looked at you all the time…" He said quietly. He had a wonderful American accent.

Hermione thought back and she could clearly remember several instances where he was looking at her… but she had thought nothing of it. "Wow… I never would have guessed. I'm flattered… but…" She trailed off.

"You don't like me. It's alright, I understand. I didn't expect you to. It's just that I could let you leave without knowing how I felt."

"No… it's not that at all. I'm just surprised."

"So you like me then?"

"Well I'm not sure… I don't really even know you. I mean sure, we hung out, but I hadn't even heard you say more than two words at a time before today!"

"We could get to know each other." He said hopefully. "I'll be more talkative."

"Chance…" She began. "I don't know. Right now I'm having a tough time with boys, and I don't think I'm ready to have another hurt me."

"I won't hurt you."

"I know you wouldn't. It's just that… It's a long story."

"I have a long time. You can tell me."

"I don't have a long time! I'm supposed to be at the train station in 15 minutes…"

"Give me the short version."

She sighed. "Alright. Well I was going out with this guy… Viktor, for a long time, and I thought I loved him. But then he left, for different reasons, and now all this other stuff has happened…. I just can't explain it. But really I've got to go…" And with that she ran towards the station, leaving Chance standing behind in the rain.

END OF FLASHBACK-

"HERMIONE!"

Hermione was suddenly startled out of her thoughts when she saw a brunette haired woman running towards her.

"Mom!" She cried, throwing her bags down and hugging her.

"Come on," She said grabbing one of Hermione's bags and leading her to the car. "Let's get home, I want you to tell me all about your summer!"

XXX

Hermione lay in her own bed in her own room. It was nice to be home. Her thoughts drifted to her many recent problems. First her boyfriend breaks up with her, she goes to summer school, fools around with her worst enemy, almost gets raped, and then a boy that she hadn't even talked to confessed that he liked her. She hated boy problems, but found herself caught up in them so often! Hopefully now that she was home she could avoid all that drama… at least for the next couple days before she had to go back to Hogwarts. But as she thought this over she realized it was unlikely. Drama seemed to seek her out.

A/N: Blah. I didn't like this chapter much. It was hard to write the whole goodbye scene. Anyway, the next chapter will be better hopefully :) And since I didn't really like this one, I will probably update without 3 reviews, although it would be a WONDERFUL surprise if I got the reviews!