I Was Walking With a Ghost

Chapter 3

As Neville left, Hermione, having turned away from the door too quickly to watch her friend's interaction with her late husband, returned to her tea, padding slowly against the hardwood floor of the living room and the linoleum of the kitchen. She leaned against the kitchen wall, glancing at her medical text on the table. At the moment, she really had no desire to do any more studying, which was a very foreign thought to the usually avid bookworm. She instead picked up her mug and carried it to the stove, refilling it before ambling into the living room and taking a seat on the couch.

Hermione relaxed on the sofa, her heavier than usual body causing her to sink deep into the cushions. She stirred her tea with her teaspoon lazily, watching the small, weak whirlpool form in the center of the mug. She blew away some steam and took a sip before setting it down on the glass table in front of her. As she set down her mug, her eyes flickered to the left and she reached out to grab the picture frame that was positioned on a stack of Daily Prophets. Looking at the silver frame and the picture within brought an all too familiar fluttering to her stomach.

The picture frame was wider than it was tall, and was polished silver, except for the bottom left corner. There was a small, orange fingerprint there, evidence of one of Ron's snacking binges on Fire Crisps. Comparable to what a Muggle might call a very spicy Cheez Doodle, Fire Crisps had the ability to actually cause flaming breath, and Ron had been absolutely in love with them. For that reason, Hermione never touched or cleaned that corner of the frame, feeling that it gave the impression of him recently being in the room, even though Hermione was the only one in eight months who had looked at the picture.

Along the top side of the frame, "Ronald Billius Weasley – Hermione Jane Granger" was written in delicate filigree and on the bottom was the date "October 31, 2004." The picture itself explained the writing. Ron and Hermione were in the center of the setting, outside in the afternoon sunlightt, colorful leaves from a few surrounding trees fluttering to the ground The breeze periodically blew around them and rustled the flowered archway they stood in front of. Ron was standing proudly, wearing a set of handsome black dress robes, looking very mature and much more physically built than he did as a teenager. He no longer maintained the overly tall, awkward appearance he used to have. His orange hair was slicked back as best as possible, but a few stray strands fell carelessly, attractively in front of his forehead. On his freckled face was a wide, ecstatic grin, and his eyes sparkled as he gazed at the woman whose waist he had his arms around.

Hermione was wearing flattering white robes, a silver veil attached to her head via a thin silver circlet around her forehead with a diamond in the center. The outfit made her appear as though she were no less than a princess, but her serene yet stunning smile gave her the look of a queen. She had her hair tamed for once, falling not in bushy spirals, but in soft brown waves down to her shoulder blades. She held a bouquet of roses and baby's breath in her left hand, and her right arm was resting on Ron's upper arm. The two were standing very close and at times leaned in to kiss each other, causing the color of Ron's lips to appear more and more like the shade of Hermione's lipstick.

Slightly behind them and off to the right, was a very proud looking Ginny Weasley, who was clad in a beautifully shimmering midnight blue robe, her fire red hair pulled back into a clip with ringlets hanging down in front. She beamed at the couple, her left arm, which proudly displayed a large diamond ring, hooked around the neck of her fiancée. Harry had tried to comb his hair, and even allowed Ginny to use styling gel on it, but it was still as messy as ever, bringing a more relaxed look to his dress robes. He had his right hand on the small of Gnny's back and he was rocking back and forth, watching the couple kiss and occasionally doing the same with Ginny or cleaning his glasses or placing his hand in his pocket.

And of course, the twins were there. They were making all sorts of faces at their brother and new sister-in-law, most of which looked they should have the caption "kissy kissy!" as they puckered up their lips and pretending to be an overly sweet couple. They would sometimes hold each other and fake cry as though they were so touched by the entire ceremony or would whisper to each other and grin sadistically at the others.

The entire scene brought back both memories of the best day of her life and the worst feeling she had ever felt. Had she only just…no, she couldn't think of that right now. She was too exhausted from feeling guilty that her mind had gone blank as of late. She gazed at the picture absentmindedly, wishing she could return the placid, oblivious smiles of the wedding party, who were so blissfully unaware that every one of them, except for the bride, was no longer of this earth.

"Ron…" She traced his profile with the tip of her finger, a few silent tears falling. She squeezed her eyes shut and held the picture close to her chest. "I would give anything for you to come back to me. Anything…I would give all I own, I would give the world…" She opened her eyes and glanced at the picture again before whispering. "I would give my life."

In order to avoid upsetting herself anymore, Hermione wiped her eyes dry with her sleeve and took one last glance at the picture before reaching her arm out to place it back on the table. "You look so beautiful in that picture." The voice, which was not her own, came from next to her and caused Hermione to jump up, scrambling off the couch and accidentally dropping the picture to the floor, shattering the glass in front of it. She stared, wide-eyed, at the couch. There, right in front of her, sitting lazily and looking very relaxed was one Ronald Weasley. "Are you alright, "Mione? You look as if you've seen a ghost…" And with that, Hermione promptly fainted on the couch.