A/N: Okay, sorry for the delay. I work at Bath and Body Works and we have been boxing up all our random crap from our big sale, and they have had me working like a house elf! But, here we are. This will be the last chapter, just to let you guys know! It's been great writing it though! I've had a blast, and thank you to all of you who reviewed on nearly every chapter! It made me so happy to see people were actually enjoying what I was writing! So here it is; I hope it's the end you were all hoping for!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Duh.

Talk is Cheap

Chapter 10

Hermione had never been so furious in her entire life. The angry feelings that had built up inside her as she made her way to the common room from the dungeon multiplied by ten when she actually saw Ron and Harry. She was hovering over them, and had her wand in Harry's face. Harry sat perfectly still, his green eyes wide with fright. Hermione was a brilliant witch, and he knew she could cast just about any spell on him she wanted.

"Harry, I cannot believe you went along with this idiotic scheme," she snarled, leaning close to his face.

"Hey! What makes you think I came up with—" she cut Ron off by turning her wand on him. He stopped talking instantly and gulped.

"Oh, Ronald, I know you better than I know myself," she spat, with a bitter laugh, "and don't talk when I'm talking," she said, knowing she sounded like an angry parent, but she didn't care. He nodded, put back in his place. She turned on Harry again.

"You're supposed to be my best friend. Ron is my boyfriend," at these words, Ron perked up. It was obvious he was expecting her to break up with him. She glared at Ron. "For now, anyway." His face fell again. "When he gets all jealous and crazy, you are supposed to stop him!" she yelled, crossing her arms over her chest, withdrawing her wand. Harry sighed with relief at this. He now felt he could talk to Hermione without fear of being put under the Cruciatus curse.

"Hermione, look. It wasn't just Ron. Yes, he came up with the plan, but I thought it was bloody brilliant. Hermione, you don't understand. I wanted this business with Snape to stop as much as he did," he said, standing up in front of Hermione, now feeling brave. "Don't stand here in front of us and pretend you did nothing wrong!" he said loudly, pushing her down to the cushy chair with one finger. Ron looked at Harry in amazement and stood up too. "And if you ask me, Ron had all the reason in the world to be jealous and crazy. You had kissed Snape!" he said the last sentence disgustedly under his breath.

"But Ron and I were not together then," she said, but inside she was feeling a deep guilt over what had happened the previous night.

"Come off it, Hermione, we aren't idiots. We know you went back down there again last night. We could tell by the way you acted in class!" Harry said angrily. Hermione's face turned a deep scarlet.

"See? We were right!" Harry said to Ron, pointing at her red skin.

Ron was absolutely livid.

"Hermione, how COULD you?! You heard what he said to you at dinner; he was asking for it! Merlin, for a smart girl, you sure are stupid!" Ron yelled. Hermione's stomach fell to her feet; he was right. She had been stupid for going back.

"Ron, you're—you're right. I was stupid. But I didn't go down there to kiss him again; I went down there to put an end to it. And he… he… Oh, God, I can't even tell you," she said, her eyes filling with tears. She got up and ran to her dormitory, not looking back.

Ron and Harry looked at each other. What now? With a heavy sigh, Ron lead the way to her room and knocked on the door. When she didn't answer, they just let themselves in.

"Hermione?" Ron ventured, stepping over to her bed, where she was lying with her face buried in her pillow.

"Go away, Ron, you wouldn't understand," she said, her voice muffled.

"Try us. Please?" he asked gently, sitting on the bed next to her and putting his hand on the small of her back. Harry pulled up her desk chair next to the bed, his usual spot. She sat up under his touch, and faced him.

"Ron, please don't be angry. But when I went back down there after dinner last night, Snape and I kissed. He told me that we had to, because he said it was the alcohol that made us believe we had feelings for each other, and that if we kissed sober, we would see it was all an illusion. I felt so strange, Ron. I was looking at Snape like I had never seen him before, and we kissed. It was glorious," Ron's mouth dropped open; he had never heard anything so disgusting in his entire life. How was he supposed to not be angry? His girlfriend had cheated on him… with Snape. She continued, pushing his mouth closed with her finger. "Ron, it was a spell. Snape had put a spell on me so that I would fall for him."

This enraged Ron.

"That miserable… what the hell does he think he's playing at?" Ron exploded, jumping off the bed.

"Ron, no. Stop. I think I know why he did it," she said sadly, looking at her hands.

"Why, Hermione, because he's an old bat who's never gotten any and he wanted to get in your pants?!" he yelled. Harry just sat there, stunned.

"Ron, how could you say something so insensitive?" she replied, standing up in front of him. As she stood in front of him, looking up into his blue eyes that were filled with anger, his face as red as his hair, she found herself smiling. Ron really does love me. That's something Snape never got to experience. That's why he put the spell on me. But I don't need a spell on me to love Ronald. She took his hands in hers, surprising both Ron and Harry. "Ron, that's almost it. He loved someone once. I don't know who, but I knew that's what it was about. He loved someone who didn't love him back. And my kiss caught him off guard. Snape didn't mean to hurt me, or you. He just acted on his feelings, like he obviously didn't do with whoever this other girl was. He never got to feel what we feel." Ron looked confused. She smiled again. "Ron, I love you," she said, running one hand through his red hair.

Ron looked utterly confused by this turn of events, but he slowly smiled when he realized what she had said.

"I love you too, Hermione," he said, leaning down and kissing her on the lips tenderly.

Harry rolled his eyes. What the bloody hell would happen next?, he thought, and laughed to himself. Again, seeing he was no longer needed in the room, he slipped out, thinking about Ginny. As he went down the hall, he wasn't paying attention and ran smack into someone.

"Bloody hell," the voice said. He looked up, startled. It was Ginny.

"Ginny! I'm sorry," he said, starting to go around her, and she was trying to go around him too, leaving them stuck in an awkward little dance in the narrow hallway.

"Harry," she said simply, looking into his eyes. He gulped.

"How's it—um, goin'?" he said stupidly, mesmerized by her gaze.

"Fine, Harry. Except this one little thing…" her voice trailed off.

"Oh? What's—what's that?" he stuttered, realizing how close they were standing.

"Oh, just, I haven't… um…" she stopped talking abruptly and pressed her lips to his impulsively. He was shocked out of his gourd, but kissed her back.

"… gotten up the nerve to kiss you yet," she finished with a smile. Harry grinned back.

"Well, looks like you have, so I guess you're doing really well, huh?" he said playfully and backed her against the opposite wall to kiss her again.

/\/\/\

That night at dinner, everything seemed to be back to normal. Ron and Hermione were sitting next to each other, teasing each other playfully and exchanging the occasional kiss. Harry and Ginny were sitting next to each other, in their own little world. Everyone was happy.

Except Severus Snape.

As he looked at the Gryffindor table, he realized he had never really had any feelings for Hermione Granger. It was just that, sometimes, she reminded him so much of Lily Evans when she was young. And alive. He regretted with all his heart never talking to her again after that day she turned him down. He had lost her friendship forever, and that would always eat at his soul. She had died before he got the chance to make things wrong. He had been a fool to abandon her friendship, just because he didn't like James Potter and he couldn't accept that she didn't love him the way she loved James. He had also been a fool to treat her son with such abhorrence. He knew that now. The Golden Trio didn't have much time left at Hogwarts, but he would treat them better from now on out. And if any of them ever came back to teach at Hogwarts, he would be there to help them along the way. It was the least he could do.

As he watched Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny sitting there, so in love, he felt a pang of desire. He needed that in his life. The new Severus Snape needed companionship. It was high time he got out and started meeting people. As his eyes grazed over Hermione, she glanced up at him. She smiled, almost reading his mind. He smiled back, an innocent smile between friends. Friends. Something Severus Snape had not had in a very long time.

"Hermione, what are you looking—Oh," Ron said, following her line of sight. Surprising himself, he smiled at Snape too. To his utter shock, Snape smiled back. "Guess the old bat's not too bad after all, huh?" he said, nudging Hermione in the abdomen.

"Nah, he just needed a friend, to help him realize what he needed out of life," she said, leaning over and kissing Ron on the cheek.

Ron beamed.

"And you, Hermione Granger, are what I need," he said, taking her hand.

Hermione blushed slightly. "And I need you, Ronald Weasley." She leaned over and kissed him on the lips then laid her head on his shoulder. I am the luckiest girl in the world.

fin

So that's it! Talk is Cheap is over! I had so much fun writing this story! Again, thank you to EVERY person who reviewed! Much love to you! And also, check out my oneshots and review those too! Now that I'm about to start student teaching, that's really all I will have time to write. Love love!

-r