YAY LOOOONG CHAPTER DONE!

There might be somethings here that you want explainations for, I'll answer them, i promise, later

Also, Draco is still Jake, remember that

Decisions and Discussions

Ronald Weasley's weakened body laid feebly on one of the hospital beds of St. Mungo's. Hermione sat next to his bed, holding his hand tightly in hers. Ron had been in a coma for days. Everyone was tremendously tired, and took shifts watching Ron's progress. Hermione had taken up a double shift, pleading the Weasleys to give her more time with him.

Ron had risked his life in unlocking Ravenclaw's necklace. It took them ages to track it down. But upon realizing that R.A.B was Regulus Black, Ron trespassed into the abandoned Malfoy mansion, looking for the necklace Sirius's house elf had hidden there.

No one ever figured out how, but Ron had somehow already managed to destroy the necklace by the time Hermione, Harry, and Professor McGonagall had gotten there. But the necklace was destroyed at a great cost; Ron was now in a coma, slowly fading into the afterlife.

Please don't take Ron away from me... Take my very own heart and put it in him. Just don't take this boy.

Hermione prayed in her mind as she faded into slumber. She hadn't slept for three days.

Hermione didn't know how long she had been asleep; but, she was awakened by a sudden twitch. It was Ron's hand she was holding. Ron's eyes were open.

"Ron?" Hermione shot up.

"Hermione!" Ron continued to stare at the ceiling.

His eyes were strange. His eyes were colorlessly blank; Ron was blind.

"Hermione! I can see you!" Ron continued to talk out loud, staring blankly at the ceiling. "I...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Suddenly, Ron started to scream, convulsing in his bed.

"Ron!" Hermione began crying with worry. "Somebody help!"

But her cry could not be answered. There were simply too many patients and too little healers. The Second War had created a deficit of healers, a profession that was extremely difficult to get into.

What's going to happen to you Ron? Please don't leave me, I can't live without you!

"Hermione..." Ron managed to speak as he continued convulsing.

"Yes, Ron" Hermione held on to Ron's hand tightly, leaning over him, trying to stop the convulsion, tears rolling out of her eyes. "Please talk to me, Ron, I love you."

"Hermione," Ron began. "I love you."

Yes! I know that already! Tell me what's going on! I hate not knowing what's going on. Tell me that you'll be fine! Please say something! Say something good!

"I know you do, Ron" Hermione sobbed. "Please, just tell me that you're going to be fine."

"Please, Hermione," Ron seemed to ignore everything Hermione was saying; he was in too much pain to hear anything, it seemed. "Please don't forget about me."

"Ron!" Hermione was full of despair. "Don't talk like that! Healers are going to come soon! They're going to make everything alright."

Suddenly, Ron's chest shot up as Ron let out a screeching scream; this knocked Hermione to the ground, staring, bewildered, at her lover's terrible pain.

"Hermione!" Ron sounded different, he was sobbing. "Don't leave me! Where are you?"

"I'm right here!" Hermione crawled back to Ron's bed. "I'm here, Ron!"

"Get me out of here!" Ron screamed at her.

What?

"What do you want me to do?" Hermione asked, confused by this new voice of Ron's.

"I need you to perform one spell on me." Ron smiled; his convulsing calmed a bit. Strangely, his smile looked evil.

"Tell me what I need to do!" Hermione ignored the look. "I'll do anything you want!"

"I need you," Ron's smile grew bigger. "I need you to perform the soul-splitting spell on me."

"That's dark magic!" Hermione was bewildered once again.

"Hermione," Ron pleaded. "It's the only way to save me!"

I have to do it; it's the only way to save him.

"Ok," Hermione gulped. "I'll do it."

Hermione took out her wand and backed up a few steps. She took a deep breath.

Splitting spells must be performed silently. Like other Dark Magic, it must be cast with strong emotion. It's certainly doable enough.

But, all of a sudden, Ron began convulsing again.

"HERMIONE!" Ron screamed; his normal voice was back. "DON'T DO IT!"

What now?

"Ron?" Hermione asked, worried. "What's going on."

"Hermione."Ron was tremendously weak; the convulsion was strong again. "After I die, please learn how to move on."

"What?"

"One of these days, you're gonna come across another idiot like me who's in love with you." Ron ignored her question. "Promise me that you'll give him a chance. Don't let him suffer through what we suffered through to get to this point."

"Ron," Hermione began crying again. "You're not going to die! I'll just perform that spell you asked me to cast."

"NO!" Ron screamed, convulsion strong as ever before. "The horcrux! You can't! I have to die!"

The horcrux? It was destroyed.

"Please, Hermione," Ron continued. "Please promise me that you will give the guy a chance!"

"Yes," Hermione sobbed. "Yes, Ron, I promise."

"I'll always love you." Ron smiled through the pain. "I'll always be watching out for you. But you must leave me and move on."

"No, Ron, don't say that!"

"I love you." Ron faded away. "Good bye."

Ron's body shook for the last, fatal time. Blood flowed out of his eyes like tears as his eyes became pitch black.

Hermione shot up from her bed, awakening from her terrible nightmare.

Morning, at school

Hermione didn't know why she always came so early to school in the mornings. She drove a car, and her classes didn't start until 7:30. She didn' really have any close friends to hang out or walk around with. She didn't really have any friend to talk to, period. She looked at one of the clocks as she entered one of the halls of her school. The hall looked square and colorlessly dull, except for the maroon colored lockers lined systematically to end of the hall. The cream colored brick walls and floor made her feel like she was in a mental institution. The flat, round clock with a black frame stuck out of the wall on the right, near the ceiling. It seemed to have stopped ticking.

2:30... Does that mean I get to go home?

The clocks in the hallways seemed as if they never worked. Hermione wondered why she bothered to even look.

Hogwarts never had a problem like this...

That was the truth. Hogwarts never had a problem like that; everything worked magically. If one couldn't find a clock, one could have simply asked one of the portraits. Hermione felt spoiled by magic. Technical difficulties never bothered her until she got drained into the magical world. She had gotten… lazy, physically at least. Fearing that physical laziness would lead to procrastination, she took up dancing during her years in Hogwarts. She was never really that good though, she had coordination problems, until she took the dance class high school, a real high school. Her stamina and coordination improved dramatically.

Hermione scrambled through the inside contents of her cream-colored book bag, looking for her cell phone.

6:50... yes, I thought so.

Hermione had come dreadfully early to school, as usual, and once again found herself clueless to what to do with her spare time. She could always study or read. She usually did nothing but that, especially in Hogwarts. That had always made Harry and Ron complain; she knew they'd much prefer to do something other than studying with her.

They would be surprised to know that Hermione had finally gotten lazy, academically. School was simply too easy for her now, even if she had missed six years of formal schooling. She did not feel like doing much work for school.

Senioritis they call it?

That wasn't necessarily true though. Hermione wasn't technically lazy. She would spent countless hours trying to find any clues regarding You Know Who's last Horcrux. She hadn't made a single discovery yet; it was much harder than she thought it would be. But this challenged her; it drove her to search harder; it was no wonder she didn't bother much with school work, even though she still completed everything with perfection.

Library again I suppose. I shall waste my time reading.

Just as she was about to turn toward the library, she was suddenly stopped by a realization that her book was in her locker in the second floor. Hermione turned around and climbed up the main stair case.

Once she got upstairs, she walked toward her locker near the dance room. She noticed a familiar figure. It was the figure of the girl who had once asked her to join the dance team. It was the figure of Katy O'Toole.

"Hey, Hermione," Katy initialized the conversation as she walked toward the opposite direction of Hermione's.

Katy had a smile in her face. Katy was a pretty girl with a pretty smile. Hermione knew that. But, Katy's smile seemed a bit sly, as if she wanted something.

Just walk away, past her...

"Hi" Hermione replied and attempted to get on with her business.

But Katy stopped directly in Hermione's path, forcing Hermione to stop out of politeness.

"How are you?" Katy continued, "We haven't talked since that whole thing with Jake at Barnes & Nobles!"

Way to remind me of that nightmare.

"Yeah," Hermione tried to be nice. "I'm fine; everything seems to be going well."

"That's great! How's everything between you and Jake?" Katy moved directly into the subject of her inquiry.

Aren't we just direct with our questions... ?

"Umm... I don't know." Hermione shrugged.

Hermione had a cute shrug. Yes, a cute shrug. It wasn't her figure that exactly made her look cute, though she actually was very pretty looking. It was that countenance she put on her face every time she shrugged, the way she tilted her head on her shoulder, causing it to press up against her cheek. It was that clueless and indifferent to the world child-like visage that Ron first fell in love with. Hermione may have been a total nerd, but her expression made all the difference in the world. She knew that; Ron had told her that countless times, before he died. She knew he had died; she forced herself to feel nothing for it everyday, every night. She didn't know that another boy, technically a man, had fallen in love with that same thing. He wondered weather she would ever find out.

"Oh, come on." Katy laughed. "I saw the way he flirted with you."

"I found him to be a bit rude." Hermione was astonished to find that such vulgar actions were called flirting. Even Victor was better than that.

Yeah, he did go little over the top. He acted nothing like I expected him to act. I suppose he really like this girl.

"Oh, he's always playing around," Katy made up an excuse for Jake, whom she never knew was Draco. "He never means any harm by any of them."

"He was being so obnoxious, cruel, and cocky." Hermione grumbled. "He's so rude."

"Promise me that you'll give him a chance." Ron had said.

"You know, most girls find him to be funny." Katy gave a sincere smile. "He can be cruel with his comments at times, but he always ends up doing something that completely makes your day, making up for all the things he says to you."

"Sounds like you really like him." Hermione stared at Katy's eyes penetratingly.

I do like him... I think.

Katy seemed to have realized that it was impossible for her to have Jake now. She never realized how much Jake liked Hermione until she tried convincing Hermione that he did. Katy was strong in her resolve, though; she was going to get the job done.

"He's all yours, Hermione" Katy managed another sincere smile. "It's you that he wants. So give him a chance. I see you around at school; I know you're depressed over something. Jake's gonna make you forget all about it."

Sigh… must I continue with this debate... ?

"You see," Hermione sighed. "The truth is that Jake reminds me of a guy I hated tremendously in the school I used to attend. And I just kinda got off a really serious relationship. I still need to get over that."

"Really," Katy was surprised, but it explained a lot on why she kept declining dates. "What happened?"

Must I answer this... ?

"Well, he sort of left" Hermione sighed.

He did leave... for another world.

"Aww," Katy became tremendously sympathetic. "He left you? You must be heart-broken."

Stop with the sympathy talk. I don't want to think about Ron...

Crap; that sounded tremendously like one of Josh's sarcasms...

"I'll live." Hermione managed a smile.

"Then use Jake as a rebound!" Katy brightened up with her great idea. "Besides, just because he reminds you of a guy you hate, it doesn't mean he is the guy. Remember, he's innocent until proven guilty."

She just won't give up.

"Fine, I'll think about it." Hermione lied.

Katy revealed the biggest smile she could possibly manage.

SCORE!

"Ask him to the homecoming dance," Katy suggested. "I know he really wants to go with you."

"We'll see." Hermione shrugged.

As Katy was about to turn around, Hermione had the urge to find out why Katy was doing this. Hermione knew Katy liked Jake, but now she was trying to get Hermione and Jake together. Hermione was a curious girl. She just had to know everything.

"Why are you doing this, Katy?"

"Because I do care about his feelings," Katy smiled. "I know he can be an ass at times, but he does have a heart and he's pretty sensitive."

"Don't let him suffer through what we suffered through to get to this point." Ron had said.

"How can a guy be anal and sensitive at the same time?"

"Well," Katy looked all-knowing. "Believe it or not, he's been much less anal since he met you. That means he likes you a lot."

"He doesn't even know me." Hermione's face looked a bit disgusted. "How can he like me so much?"

"Don't you believe in love at first sight?" Katy smiled.

That was a hypocritical statement. Katy gave up on the whole idea more than three years ago. She'd be with Josh, instead of trying to be with Jake, if there was something called love at first sight.

"I did," Hermione felt depressed again. "But look what happened."

Damn, she reminded me of Ron again...

"Oh."

Crap, I just screwed things over didn't I?

"But you must leave me and move on." Ron had said. "I promise" you had said to Ron.

"But," Hermione finally managed a sincere smile. "I'll give him a chance."

"Good!" Katy smiled, turned around and walked away.

"There has to be more to him liking me than a love at first sight thing right?" Hermione stopped Katy from walking away.

Katy turned her face around and laughed.

"Sure, Hermione," Katy jokingly replied. "I just made that up. I can't have him 'til he dumps you."

"Gee, how nice of you." Hermione made a face at her.

Then, both of their expressions transformed into a warm smile.

They parted ways.

That night

"Hey, Jake" a voice came out of Draco Malfoy's cell phone. "What's up?"

"Hey, Josh," Draco replied, knowing he was Jake. "I'm just sitting around."

"Good!" Josh seemed happy. "A lot of us are going to Nick's house to hang out. There's gonna be beers and hot chicks and everything. We need you to fire up the party man!"

You don't even drink, Josh... nor do you ever have casual sex...

"Haha," Jak's life was filled with beer party these days. And the best part was that he could always keep all the cops away using his magic. "Alright, I'll be there in a few minutes."

"K," Josh said. "I'll see you later"

"Alright," Jake replied. "See ya."

As Jake hung up his phone, an AIM message popped up on his computer screen. It was a screen name he had never seen before.

ScotsBlonde06?

ScotsBlonde06: Hey, is this Jake?

JMAlexTheGrt: yeah whos this?

ScotsBlonde06: This is Hermione

JMAlexTheGrt: really

ScotsBlonde06: really

JMAlexTheGrt: i didn't know you had a aim account

ScotsBlonde06: you mean "an". And yes, I do, I suppose.

JMAlexTheGrt: how u find me?

ScotsBlonde06: I asked Katy.

JMAlexTheGrt: ic... wut u want? last time I checked, u didn"t wanna talk to me

ScotsBlonde06: Well, this isn't really talking. It's technically writing.

JMAlexTheGrt: right...

ScotsBlonde06: Anyways, I need a date for Homecoming Dance. Take it or leave it.

JMAlexTheGrt: huh?

ScotsBlonde06: Will you be my date for Homecoming? Is that so hard to ask?

JMAlexTheGrt: well, i dont even know if this is Hermione to start out with...

ScotsBlonde06: well, it is, trust me.

JMAlexTheGrt: well, prove it by giving me ur cell number

ScotsBlonde06: um, no. But I can tell you something only I would know.

JMAlexTheGrt: wuts that?

ScotsBlonde06: You asked for my eye color and I told you that it was brown.

JMAlexTheGrt: hmm...

ScotsBlonde06: Oh, come on! That"s got to be good enough!

JMAlexTheGrt: fine, I'll go to homecoming wit u

ScotsBlonde06: Now that's what I'm talking about.

JMAlexTheGrt: ill pick you up at 6?

ScotsBlonde06: Sure, why not; and, you're buying the tickets.

JMAlexTheGrt: fine but u better make urself look good

ScotsBlonde06: I always look good. Isn't that why you like me so much in the first place?

JMAlexTheGrt: well looks aint everythin

ScotsBlonde06: Gee, thanks.

JMAlexTheGrt: aight, i gtg

ScotsBlonde06: Ok, bye.

JMAlexTheGrt has signed off

I didn't even get a chance to ask where he was going.

Well, if I told her where I was going and what I was doing, she would never talk to me again, would she?

Review if you have time.