Disclaimer- all the characters you recognize are Jo's. (Who else could invent such beautiful and lively characters?)
CLOSE TO MY HEART
CHAPTER 1
PROLOGUE
Ron sat in his room, his family-photograph in his hands. He saw his mom, dad, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George and Ginny frantically waving at him. Even his best friends Harry and Hermione were there-Harry with Hedwig on his shoulder and Hermione with Pigwidgeon. Seeing this beautiful photograph shot by Colin Creevey (who had become a photo-journalist for the Daily Prophet and one of the best of his kind) bought tears to his eyes. His whole world was in shambles. His parents had been killed by Lord Voldemort in his seventh year. Percy had died for the honour of his family. Ginny had been hit by the fatal Avada Kedavra spell by Lucious Malfoy while she had been doing work for the D.A., which had become a kind of youth wing of the Order of the Phoenix. Hermione, the only girl he had ever loved had given her life to save him. He only had Harry, but he too had to do his duties as an auror and thus could not spend much time with Ron. Charlie could not see anything beyond dragons and he seldom came back from Romania. Fred and George were busy with their joke shop, which they had now expanded to Beauxvillé, the only all-magic village in France. Bill was happily married with Fleur and had a young girl named Cheryl. But Ron was all alone. He had no one to talk to, no one to share his misery with. There was no one on whose shoulder he could cry till his eyes were sore. The Burrow looked empty and uninviting without all the laughter and hospitability of Molly. By now Ron was crying madly, with the photograph clutched to his chest. Somehow he wiped his tears and went upstairs, proceeding to his bedroom. On the way was the room that Ginny and Hermione used to share. He could feel its emptiness. The only two girls in his life-his sister and his fiancée were no more. He went inside and sat on Hermione's bed, trying to remember her beautiful face, the way she used to roll her eyes at him, the way she talked, the way she held him, the way she breathed, everything about her was so close to his heart. He loved her. He still loved her. He opened her bedside drawer and took out a leaf of letters, neatly tied with a ribbon. These were the things Hermione had valued beyond anything else-the letters they had sent to each other. He took out the first one; the envelope bore her name and "BY OWL POST" in block letters. He remembered his first love letter to her in his seventh year at Hogwarts very well.
Dearest Hermione,
Merry Christmas. I don't know what to write in this letter and to tell the truth I am feeling a bit nervous writing this to you. But I do know that you will treasure it always, as it is my first love letter to you. Being away from you for such a long period of time is not an easy task for me and I am dying to see you soon, to take you in my arms and kiss you. By the way, how is your holiday in the Hawaii islands? I hope you're having fun on all those beaches. And I bet you've bought loads of new books. Well, you know that I'm not good at romantic stuff, but nonetheless I have composed a short poem for you.
My love for you is like a sweet dream,
You've entered my life like a powerful wand beam,
The power of love is for all to see,
The strength of togetherness, between just you and me.
It's not very good, but I hope you like it. All is well here at Hogwarts. Dumbledore is planning a huge Christmas party with all the staff members. The Minister of Magic, the oaf, Felix Felicis will be present here. With Fudge gone, Felix is here. What luck the Magical community has got. He's surely not a supporter of You-Know-Who's (You-Know-Who can never have such idiots as supporters) but still what a fathead he is. Hey! Guess what, Snape has got a girlfriend. Last week Harry and I went to Hogsmeade. There we saw Snape walking with a girl with long auburn hair. She was cute, but I dunno what she saw in Snape. Seamus and Dean are swearing that he saw them snogging in Madam Puddifoot's. Snape in Madam Puddifoot's! What a sight it must be. I'm sure you are angry with me because, in my first love letter I mentioned everyone under the sun. Sorry, it was supposed to be private, wasn't it? Well, take care of yourself. The war is not far. I love you.
Love you always,
Ron
P.S. Harry sends in his best greetings.
He closed the letter and tied it with the ribbon, with the ghost of a smile on his face, but tears in his eyes. He could not sit in that room without remembering Hermione. He went to his room and as it was quite dark and tried to get some sleep, but couldn't. The thoughts of Hermione were still haunting his dreams.He thought about the first time he had realized that he was in love with Hermione. It was his fourth year at Hogwarts, when the triwizard tournament had been held in the school. Hermione's date to the Yule Ball had been Victor Krum, a Quidditch star. Ron had been in awe of him, but after he saw Hermione with him, he had become really jealous. But Hermione had been waiting for Ron to ask her out, but he had not done so. This made her angry with him, as it was very clear that Ron had deep feelings for her. In the meantime, Victor had fallen madly in love with Hermione. But Hermione had never considered him more than a friend. Her true love had always been Ron.
Ron took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
My first fan fiction. Please read and review.
The first chapter was bit slow, but loads of great stuff coming up-flashbacks, the Hogwarts graveyard, Felix Felicis, and not to forget, Ron and Hermione's love story.