Epilogue- Parental Guidance

He stacked them all up in front of him- every draft, every copy, even the half
addressed envelopes. Now that he had decided not to give her the letter, he
would get rid of them all. It really wasn't safe to keep them- this was exactly
the sort of thing that would inevitably find its way into Fred and Georges'
hands if not destroyed. Better to burn them all.

He dropped them into the fire, one by one, at a speed so slow it could be termed
religious. The scribbled-on, crumpled up first attempts- up in smoke. The three
drafts, filled to the brim with spelling errors and incorrect punctuation-
slowly burnt to a smouldering crisp. The empty envelopes- consumed by the fire.
Finally, his two proper copies, both in envelopes, fully addressed- he had
originally planned on sending her the letter, rather than delivering it by hand
and he had been so nervous about having to rewrite the whole thing again if he
lost one copy that he had written it out twice.

His hand wavered as he held the first of these copies over the flames. Did he
want to go through with this? There was no getting them back once they were
burnt. Perhaps he should send it…better late than never, after all… he'd have to
tell her eventually, anyway. Surely it made more sense to do it through a
letter, where all of his thoughts would be clearly displayed in an orderly
fashion, than face to face, where she'd cut in constantly, and he'd end up
rambling nonsensically. Perhaps he should send it…

He began to lay the letter back down on the table, when he was hit by another
barrage of thoughts. Was he ready? Was he really, truly ready for what might
happen if he sent he the letter? There was no guarantee that she'd fell the same
way, after all. In fact, there was every chance that it might ruin their
friendship forever…

He began to move back towards the fireplace. He'd tell her. Soon. He just needed
time to build up a little more courage-

"RON!"

He leapt about a foot in the air, and the letter flew from his hand into the
crackling flames. He ad been spared from having to make a decision. Tough luck
if he had wanted to keep it…

"WOULD YOU TELL GINNY TO COME IN AND GET READY FOR BED?"

"YES, MUM!" he yelled back up the stairs. He dashed out of the back door,
slamming it firmly behind him.

The other copy remained forgotten on the table.

"I love you," he whispered softly, his hand brushing her hair away from her
face. She smiled back at him, watching his eyes sparkling in the light reflected
by the window from the glittering moon outside. Where she was, she wasn't sure,
but being there like this, with him, was what she had always dreamed of. They
could be anywhere, for all she cared. All that mattered was that he was there,
and he loved her.

"I love you too, Ron."

He was kissing her now, slowly and deeply, his fingers in her hair. After a few
seconds, they broke apart, as he whispered her name again, savouring every
syllable.

"Hermione…"

"HERMIONE!"

"Aieeeeee!" There was a crash as she woke up. She had flung her arms out,
sweeping her mug of now stone-cold hot chocolate from the desk, where it spilt
neatly into her waste paper bin.

"Hermione, calm down!" her mother scolded. Hermione had recognised the voice as
her mother's as soon as she had heard her yell. That's why she'd screamed- she
hadn't wanted her mother to catch her with Ron.

She looked down into her bin. The mug wasn't broken, but the cold chocolate had
soaked through everything, turning it all into one big, mushy pulp. She bent
down to remove the mug, but she was stopped by her mother's hand on her
shoulder.

"I'll sort that. You get ready for bed- you look like you need a good night's
sleep."

Hermione looked at her watch and was astonished to see that it was almost
midnight. She had fallen asleep at her desk whilst attempting to read and not
think of Ron. She just couldn't get what he had done that day out of her mind.
There had been something about it which, if she hadn't known any better, she'd
have called almost… romantic. If only…

She was too tired to ponder the situation further. All she wanted to do was fall
back to sleep, into the world of simple, lovely dreams, where things weren't
quite as complicated.

"Morning, dear."

"Morning, Mum. Erm… did you see a letter lying on the table? Addressed to
Hermione?"

"Oh, yes dear! I sent it off with Pig last night."

"Morning, sweetheart. Sleep well?"

"Oh, yes. Are you working today?"

"No… I've decided to take the day off. Perhaps we could go into town? Unless, of
course, you've already got plans with Felicity."

"No- she's leaving for France today to visit her pen pal, Celine."

"Oh, that reminds me, dear! A letter came for you this morning. From Ron, I
think. I recognise the little owl."

"Oh- thanks…"

"What's he saying? Come on, read it out!"

"Dear Hermione…"

A/N- Well, that's it for this fic from me- let me know what you think- but I just thought I'd let you know that I've got a new fic up. It's another Ron and Hermione one, based on the lead-up to their wedding, so go and have a look!