A/N: I'm smack in the middle of final exams, but I still managed to pump out this chapter for you. I had a really fun time writing this on because there are lots of big moments in here. Also, this is my last post until after Christmas, so MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAPPY HANNUKAH! HAPPY KWANZAA! Or if you're an atheist, just enjoy your week!
Violet Snicket- I'm being congratulated on a story? That really makes me feel special! Thank you! There's lots of R/H fluff in here for you to enjoy!
Zarroc- The record wasn't beat, but there was a valiant effort from the home team. Thank you so much for supporting this story!
Love-is-everything- That's definitely not the ending! They still have to figure out the law and the mysterious creature and their love lives! I think that bad will sucks, but it's needed to a point. A story doesn't work if it's all just happy.
Cappygal116- They decided to go to Germany because the letter from Dean's mom talked about Dean going to another country he'd gone to with Seamus before, and the only country Dean had gone to with Seamus was Germany, where they stayed in that wizarding town. Bam! That's how it all works out!
Coolgirlc- Haha! Eager, are we? Good! I like enthusiasm!
Quidditch7- It does seem fishy, doesn't it? However, it was just a twist. Desperate times called for desperate measures. I've been really weak on the H/G segments, and I'm really apologetic to you especially. I'll certainly work on it in the future because you write such lovely reviews for me.
The End of a New Life by MyKonstantine.
Chapter 7: Coming Around
"I can't believe you didn't see his face either!" Lavender jabbered on as Dean and his search party lay exhausted in the home Lavender shared with Seamus the next morning. "I mean, I had only seen him for a minute and Hermione was in the dark, so that's understandable. But he kidnapped you, brought you to that awful house in Germany, tied you up and left you to die! It's amazing you never saw his face!"
"He was heavily subdued, Lavender." Ron reminded her. "Otherwise he would have struggled all the way to Germany."
Ron looked over to Hermione, looking for a sign of approval. Hermione made sure nobody else was looking in their direction and then gave him a quick smile and a nod of the head. She didn't know if this lie of theirs would last, but they were all doing damn well so far.
Seamus tapped his thumbs on his knees. "So this thing is a strong male with a black body."
Dean's head shot up. He looked in Hermione's direction with a stern face and then looked down at his own skin.
"Not like the skin colour either." Hermione amended Seamus' previous statement quickly. "Dead black, like the night sky. From what I could tell in the dark, he didn't have much eye colour either."
Dean nodded in acknowledgement of this new fact and added "I didn't see much of him besides the black arms, myself. I figured they could have been some sort of costume."
"Well, it may have been. It's certainly not a creature." Hermione told them all.
"How would you know?" Ginny inquired, sipping on a glass of pumpkin juice as she sat next to Harry on the love seat. The two had been very friendly since their return from Germany, and Hermione wondered if something had happened at that bar that she had missed.
"This is Hermione, Gin." Ron pointed out.
Harry gestured in agreement. "Obviously she's scoured the local library looking for clues."
Hermione tried not to blush. She hated it when the boys called out her every move like that. It made her feel like a complete fool. It wasn't her fault nobody else tried to search for the answers.
"I tried to see if it was some sort of shadow-born creature, but it just didn't fit any of the descriptions. This is obviously a magical power, but it's not something we would have found in the dark forest. There's nothing like it on record anywhere."
Everyone looked a little bothered by the news. Hermione was a little bothered telling them the news. If this was a creature, it wasn't known to wizards, thus they had no idea how to deal with it or how lethal it was. Then, of course, there was the other point.
"If it isn't a magical creature, what the hell is it?" Parvati piped up.
Neville leaned forward in his chair. "Maybe it's not living."
"Like inferi?" Harry attempted to build upon Neville's theory.
"Inferi wouldn't have been able to speak." Ginny shook her head at the two men, dashing their hypothesis to dust. "Lavender was threatened. It just doesn't work out."
"Did he speak to you too, Dean?" Lavender asked in the most motherly of voices she could muster.
Dean snapped out of the daze of confusion he had drifted into over the past few moments. "Oh," he stumbled with his words. "No. He didn't. Not at all."
"Well," Neville spoke up, "I didn't mean like inferi. I think it could be some sort of magical apparition."
Ron snorted into his tea. "Something tells me that an apparition wouldn't be able to hit so hard."
"What's your brilliant idea then?" Neville gave Ron the most ghastly of looks he could muster up.
"I think it was just one fucked-up wizard." Ron stated quite plainly.
Everyone paused for a moment as they ran over Ron's thesis. Their facial expressions began to randomly change to a look of disbelief or a look of understanding. This was just another topic they were going to debate.
"How the hell would a human being look like that?"
Seamus brought up an interesting point. Anatomically, the average height and appendages were the same as a human; otherwise the angle from which Lavender was hit would have been much different. Still, nothing explained the blackened body.
"It makes sense." Hermione hated admitted that Ron was right. When did he suddenly gain the ability to think reasonably? Maybe she just had that effect on her close friends. Or maybe, she thought for a whimsical second, he was trying to impress her.
Hermione began to blink rapidly. She had to finish her explanation before she drifted into her fantasy world. "It has the same size and shape as a human and it uses our language. We'd just have to find something to account for its body."
Seamus pouted on his sofa, his arms crossed and his face scrunched up. "I still think it was a magical apparition."
"And we can't rule out the possibility of inferi." Harry held on to his theory. "Just because there's no record of them ever talking doesn't mean that they can't talk."
"It's just some guy!" Ron shouted in an exasperated voice.
Seamus rolled his eyes. "That's absolutely ridiculous, Weasley! Potter's just as bad."
"Like your theory is any better." Harry scoffed.
"So Seamus, you're saying that you make sense and we don't?"
"Yeah, I am."
"You're absolutely wrong. I'd bet on it!"
Hermione wanted to cover her eyes so she wouldn't have to see this anymore. She couldn't believe that Ron had just suggested a bet to an Irishman.
"Fine!" Seamus announced to Ron and Harry with the rest of the room as witnesses. "Fifty galleons each!"
Ron looked a bit shifty at the prospect. "Twenty-five!"
"Thirty!"
"Deal!"
Hermione laughed to herself. She never understood what possessed them to bet on everything. That was one thing about Ron she adored. He was so passionate that he could never just agree to disagree.
Wait! Why was she thinking about Ron like this? She needed to figure herself out and she needed to do it fast.
This conversation eventually led off into an hour of relentless quidditch talk that ended only after Lavender fell asleep and began to snore awkwardly. Seamus attempted to pick her up and bring her to their bed by himself, but after much struggling he asked for Neville's assistance.
Hermione help but smile like a crazy woman at the sight. She'd never actually had a problem with Lavender until recently. However, Lavender had been more than unpleasant the last few days and Hermione felt it necessary to revel in the moment during which she realized her former roommate was, in fact, a cow.
A strange throat clearing noise from the sofa attracted Hermione attention back to the room in which she was sitting. It was Dean. He and Parvati were staring at each other, an unsettled tension lingering between them.
It just wasn't Hermione's place to be sitting there with Harry, Ron and Ginny. Parvati had the ring and Dean knew she did. The conversation they needed to have would get harder with every passing moment.
Hermione caught eyes with Ginny. "I'm going to make some more tea. Why don't you come with me?"
"Of course!" Ginny leapt up from her seat with obviously false enthusiasm. "Oh, but I'm not sure where Lavender keeps the teabags! Harry, come help me look!"
"Harry doesn't even drink tea." Ron noted casually.
"She left the tea on the tab-" Ginny shot Harry the most gruesome of looks and suddenly he understood. "Oh! Oh, okay! I guess I'll have to help you then!"
Now it was Harry's turn to convince Ron. "Hey Weasley, you're not going to leave me alone with the ladies, are you? Come along!"
Ron shrugged. "It's not like you've never dealt with them one-on-one before, Harry." He certainly was not getting the point.
"But what if we can find the tea?" Harry continued through gritted teeth.
"How many wizards to you think it takes to find a bloody jar of tea leaves?"
Harry's face was beginning to turn purple. Hermione and Ginny watched contently from the doorway. This time they would leave Harry to deal with Ron.
"Ron!" In a poor attempt to muffle his voice, Harry half-yelled and half-grunted this out. He shot a shaky look towards Dean and Parvati. Ron's eyes followed Harry's. He stared at the couple for a moment, shrugged, and turned back to Harry.
"Why didn't you just say so?" Ron asked Harry in a very audible voice as he stood up and walked passed him into the kitchen.
"You're a git."
Ginny hurried toward the kettle. She flicked her wand to get it boiling and let out a deep sigh. "I'm glad to have gotten out of there! The amount of tension between them is absolutely ridiculous."
"Well, they have a lot to work out now." Hermione said as she opened up the jar full of tea leaves.
Harry nodded in agreement. He didn't speak, but he was definitely deep in thought. Chances are, Hermione guessed, he was worried about this would do to Dean in his fragile state.
Hermione had to keep herself busy. She lined up four fresh cups. "Okay! Who's having tea?"
"Me!" Ginny squeaked in response.
"Harry?"
"I can't stand tea."
Ginny looked absolutely mortified. She stared at Harry with her mouth partially opened. "How can you not like tea?"
"I dunno." Harry shrugged. "I've just never fancied drinking it."
"They should have laws against people like you!" Ginny giggled, looking very witty and clever in front of the man Hermione knew she still had feelings for. Maybe it was best to leave them alone.
Hermione let Harry and Ginny continue their playful banter, but she was on a mission involving tea leaves and steaming hot water.
"Ron, do you want some more tea?" No reply. "Ron?"
Hermione surveyed the room, but she didn't immediately notice Ron. It wasn't until the second look around that she noticed Ron wallowing in the shadows by the threshold into the living room.
She tiptoed over, feeling a bit high strung. "Ron! What are you doing?"
Ron turned and gave Hermione a mischievous grin. He was up to no good, and he took no shame it. He actually seemed to be reveling in his own devilish behavior. He put a finger to his lips and pulled Hermione in close to him so that her shadow did not reach into the room where Dean and Parvati sat.
They were sneaking around. They were spying on a very intimate conversation. The worst part was that Hermione enjoyed every second of it.
"I realized in that I may have lost you for good and you would have never known how I really felt." Hermione could hear Parvati whispering. "I don't think I could have dealt with that."
There was a short pause. "It doesn't matter, Parvati. I'm alive and well. I know how you feel and-"
"No, Dean! You don't know!"
Hermione could only imagine that Dean was taken aback by this statement, because his reply was much weaker than before. "Then tell me how you feel."
"I love you, Dean!" Parvati cried out. Hermione's heart dropped.
"You do?" Dean fumbled through his words in shock.
"Yes!"
"Why didn't you tell me? I've had feelings for you for years now!"
Ron gave Hermione a confused look. Wasn't Dean's plan to give Parvati the gentle letdown?
"I never knew!" Parvati giggled. "I've had a mad crush on you since sixth year!"
This moment of joy was followed by deafening silence. Hermione wanted to peak around the corner to see what was going on, but then they would surely be caught.
"Are they snogging, you think?" Ron whispered into Hermione's ear. A chill ran up and down her spine. Her knees buckled, but she still managed to shake her head no.
"You found the ring, didn't you?"
That's what the silence had been about.
"Yeah, I found it." Parvati's voice was smooth and slow. "I still have it with me."
Dean sighed. "Can I see it?"
The distant noises of rustling robes and a small box opening filled the air. There was another pause. Ron began to fidget in anticipation, but Hermione controlled him with a quick elbow jab to the ribs. Still, Hermione had to admit, the suspense was killing her as well.
"I think I might be crazy." Dean muttered. "I wasn't really sure of myself. I'm still not completely sure of myself, but it doesn't matter."
Parvati coughed. Hermione and Ron could hear them wriggling around on the sofa.
Dean continued with his short speech. "I wanted this to be a big surprise. Obviously, it's too late for that. Parvati, I'd love for you to have this, if you'll still accept it."
Hermione was sure that every person, animal, and spirit in the house heard Parvati's squeal of joy. "Oh, Dean! Of course!"
Ron's hands clenched just tight enough around Hermione that he could pick her up a few inches off the ground and run to the center of the room where Harry and Ginny were chatting with Dean and Neville, who had finally come back downstairs.
"What the hell is going on?" Seamus questioned them with a goofy smirk and raised eyebrows.
"Dean and Parvati are engaged."
Ginny sat back in her seat with crossed arms and a skeptical look on her face. "Oh really?"
At that very moment, Parvati burst into the kitchen with Dean just behind her. After they squeezed through the doorway, Dean put his arm around Parvati's waist and they walked toward the others together.
Parvati stuck her left hand in each of their faces in turn.
"Dean and I are engaged!"
Naturally, everyone congratulated them vigorously, but as soon as their backs were turned, Ron let out a grumble.
"Great. Another bloody wedding."
Ron caught Hermione's eye and jerked his head towards the doorway that led outside. She nodded discretely, and as soon as the fuss died down a bit and people began asking inane questions such as "Have you decided the flavor of the cake yet?" Ron slowly got up and walked casually outside. Nobody questioned it. After a minute or two, Hermione got up in the same fashion and hurried through the door.
Ron stood leaning against the house with one leg up, his foot resting just above where the wall met the foundation. He looked cool and calm at first, but then Hermione couldn't help but notice he looked a little anxious.
"Dean and Parvati." Ron spoke out to the backyard, never once peeking over at Hermione. "What d'you reckon?"
Hermione put on a weak smile. "I think it's lovely. I really do."
"I reckon they're screwed."
Ron's pessimistic approach startled Hermione. He knew Ron had always been a bit of a cynic, but never so openly about someone other than Hermione herself.
"Why would you say that?" Hermione could feel the tension growing between them and swallowing her whole. Was this Ron's odd way of confiding in her?
Ron shrugged. "He never told her that he loved her. He said he'd fancied her for years, but he never said he loved her." Hermione thought back to what they had just heard. Ron was right. Why didn't she pick up on that?
Hermione gulped back emotions that had been strangling her for months. "Do you think it's all because of the law? If only I could have fought harder to get an earlier appeal, I could have-"
"No, I don't think it's because of the law. He had options with the handling the law." Ron interrupted Hermione's temporary loss of faith. "I've broken it down. It's either pity or hope."
"What?"
"It could have been pity. Dean may have felt so horrible about breaking Parvati's heart after she'd found the engagement ring that he decided not to break her heart and just marry her. But he also could have had some hope. Maybe he realized that Parvati very well could be the one for him and he decided he'd rather take a chance than muck it all up."
Hermione nodded. Ron had analyzed all this? She had done the same to a point, but hearing all this rational from Ron was truly shocking.
She didn't question it. She simply nodded her head. "I think it was a little bit of both."
There was an eerie silence. A chilly wind whipped through Hermione's hair. She only allowed herself quick glances at Ron. To her surprise, after several glances she noticed Ron had snapped his head to the side and was staring at her. Hermione couldn't help but stare back.
"If I was really serious about marrying a girl, I'd at least tell her I loved her."
Hermione's heart jumped into her throat. She couldn't make a single sound, even if she had known the right words to say.
She didn't have to say anything. Ron was willing to continue. "I mean, I wouldn't throw myself at her, but when you know you just know, right?"
Hermione nodded quickly. Her heart had descended a bit and she managed to squeak out a meek "Of course." Ron looked more anxious than ever. He began wiggling his foot back and forth, leaving brown scuff marks on the white wall. Finally, he managed to speak once again.
"Look, Hermione. I fancy you. I want to you all about how I have since school, but I'd look like a prat." He shook it off quickly. "It doesn't matter. All I'm saying is… I'm not asking you to marry me, okay? Just maybe, if you get the chance, we could spend some time together. Someplace nice. Just the two of us."
Hermione was completely taken aback, but at the same time tremendous joy overwhelmed her. She had never really admitted it to herself, but she knew in that moment that she had been waiting to hear that from him for years.
Ron looked more flustered with every second that ticked by.
Hermione gave him a warm, bright smile. This whole confession was a bit amusing. "I've fancied you for ages, Ron." Hermione let out a laugh. "I'd love to go on a date with you sometime."
"Well, I never said it would be a date," Ron cooed, "but if you insist…"
"You're so wonderfully clever, Ronald." Hermione let out in the most sarcastic tone she could manage while being overpowered by sheer happiness.
Ron sucked in a deep breath, as if he were about to say something else that was deeply important. "Hermione, that's not all of it. There's something else I need to tell you, you know, while we're being straightforward."
Hermione beamed from ear to ear. What more could he possibly tell her? "Go ahead and tell me, then."
"Hermione, I-"
A terrified shriek from within the house cut him off mid-sentence. Without thinking twice, they both rushed into the house.
By the time Hermione got inside, six pairs of feet could be heard trampling up the stairs. Hermione followed in the same direction with Ron quick on her heels. She identified the people in front of her by the backs of their heads: Seamus, Harry, Ginny, Dean, Neville, and Parvati. Where the hell was Lavender?
Seamus swung open the first door on the left, screaming at the sight before him.
It took Hermione a moment to get a visual through the sea of people, but when she finally did, she wished she hadn't.
A tall black creature stood sneering at them with unconscious Lavender snatched up in his arms. It certainly looked like a man, but it was no man Hermione had ever seen. He was hairless and colorless all around. She tried to think up a quick plan of action as this creature turned and began heading toward the large glowing hole that had formed at the intersection of two walls, but Seamus got there first.
"Furnunculus!" He cried out furiously.
Whatever was holding Lavender immediately dropped her. As his body broke out in blisters from Seamus' spell, holding on to anything was much too pain for him. Before he could get hit by anything again, he sprinted toward his glowing device.
However, Seamus wasn't done with him. Now he was going to go after the man with his bare hands.
Seamus was only a two or three meters away when the creature entered the glowing crevice and it began to rapidly shrink.
"Oh no you don't!" Seamus hollered. Hermione couldn't believe this. He had gone completely off his rocker.
Seamus stuck an arm in after it, but that was all he could fit through for a very quick moment. His arm too needed to be jerked out of the glowing crack before the wall carved into it.
When Seamus removed his arm, Hermione quite audibly gasped. Parvati cringed very obviously. Hermione couldn't help but feel grateful that Lavender was unconscious, otherwise Lavender would be having a panic attack.
Seamus' arm had been stripped of all hair and was gleaming at them in scaly solid ebony.
You knew what would be the best present of them all?
A 2006 Dodge Charger... but let's not go there.
The greatest present YOU could give me is you reviews. I have some really wonderful reviewers and I always love hearing from you!
