I never expected so many reviews for the last chapter, Thank you. To inform you, this is a shorter chapter than I expected. I must also tell you, I don't hate Ron. I find him amusing and I must say, useful. This chapter is a turning point for Ron.

Disclaimer: Oh come on, do you seriously believe that Ms. Rowling has the time to write Fanfiction?

Chapter 16: Ron's Decision

By: tojot

Malfoy had been expelled when it was discovered that he was in league with Voldemort. Especially when both Harry and Hermione testified against him. The sharp-faced boy was now at the Ministry undergoing extensive questioning from the Auror Department. Cornelius Fudge had finally been booted from his position as Minister of Magic and replaced with Rufus Scrimgeour. Harry had yet to tell Ron about the Prophecy since the incident that called Malfoy's expulsion.

As for Hermione, she was at her wit's end. All her feelings for her best friend had almost come to a head two weeks ago, when they both got caught up in the moment and almost kissed in the Infirmary. Now she was avoiding him, not that Harry had made it hard to avoid. She was in love with him, but she was afraid he might reject her if he knew. And she had come very close revealing it all. It was the mere thought of him that close that made her crack. She had told herself to stay away, to distract herself. But forbidden fruit always tasted the sweetest. Anytime she tried to think of something else, she would always end back on him. She had not read the red book since that night in the Infirmary. She had not even dared open it away from Harry.

And just last night she had dreamed of the little girl again.

She was in the library once again at night, and she was surrounded by piles of books, but this time the Red book lay open in front of her. And the Little girl sat at the table across from her. The single flickering candle that stood on the table between them threw the little girl's facial features into sharp relief and illuminated her green eyes.

"Hello?" Hermione asked somewhat cautiously.

"The time is fast approching." The little girl said propheticly.

"What?" Hermione said looking at her.

"The danger is coming swiftly, the Dark Lord's forces will be soon gathering, and The One remains unprepared for the task set before him. Hermione Granger, you are the only one who is able to help him. He cannot do it with out you."

"What do I do?" Hermione asked.

"The information you need is what you have in right in front of you, and your heart holds the key to unraveling its mysteries. You must go to him."

"But Harry hates me."

"He is a fool if he does because he needs you more than he realizes. He has no clue that he has already entrusted you with important knowledge that no other should know."

"But…"

"He may seem unwilling but he does need you." The girl interrupted as she stood up. " Go… Help him, Hermione, please." She pleaded the candle flickered out and the girl disappeared into the darkness leaving Hermione alone.

Even though the little girl had visited her dreams twice, Hermione found it impossible to forget the words of the strange girl.

Hermione dug into her book bag for her Arithmancy Book and her hand landed on Gryphons book. She pulled it out instead and looked at it. With a heavy sigh she stuffed it back in the bag. Trying to get Harry to stop avoiding her was going to be a task in itself.

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Avoiding Hermione seemed easy for the first few weeks, but now it was getting more and more difficult. Hermione seemed to be everywhere he was. She seemed rather persistent, like someone had lit a fire within her. Or was it that someone had lit that fire under her? He didn't know, he was trying his hardest to ignore her and that great feeling he got in his chest whenever she was near. She kept hassling him that they needed to get back to the reading of the book. He tried to ignore that too. It wasn't as if he didn't want to know what the Phoenix Blaze was. That was one of the two attracting features of reading with Hermione. The other was Hermione. The detracting feature was enough to keep him at bay: Ron.

Even though he was trying to avoid her, Harry would catch himself staring at her and wondering what his and her children would look like or what it would be like if he, Harry, were to sneak up on her in the library and snog her senseless seeing as they had been interrupted in the hospital wing before anything could happen. Even his dreams involved her… He tried to forget the details of it all. It had gotten so bad that Harry had to resort to cold showers and he even asked Neville to slap him once, to poor Neville's great confusion. At this point, Harry was glad that Ron did not practice Legilimency.

Lessons with McGonagall weren't much better. Harry found himself lagging behind Hermione, who was nearly in the final stages of achieving the full lioness form, but she had yet to incorporate her clothing with her. An incident happened that Harry would never forget. Not that he could. It happened in their last lesson. Both Harry and Hermione were concentrating as hard as they could to retain the animalistic forms that they had achieved. When McGonagall told them to change back, Hermione got nervous and changed back too quickly, accidentally leaving all her clothing behind and Harry accidentally got an eyefull. Harry wasn't prepared for it. For a long moment, he found himself unable to breathe. He quickly turned around to give Hermione her dignity and her privacy. Though, image would be burned into the back of his eyelids. Not that what he did see of her wasn't pleasing to the eye, it just didn't help his situation of trying to keep her at a distance. Even that scar across her chest added to the beauty instead of detracting him in his opinion. It added strength and character now that he seen it in full.

That particular incident made Hermione avoid him for two days and then she went right back to hassling him about the book as if it never happened. Though it did take a few days for the pink tinge in her cheeks to go away. Though, Harry had a very hard time of looking at Hermione without going very red himself.

Night Roaming had also become an every night habit. Ever since he had discovered his latent feelings for Hermione, his soul had become more and more restless. Hermione's lioness form was usually there running with him through the forest.

They encountered the Centaurs on one particular evening. A few seemed to be riled at something. One in particular was shooting arrows at everything that moved, or to say the animal forms of Harry and Hermione. Another centaur stopped the onslaught by placing his arm in front of the other. "Stop, they are but only Night Roamers, they shall cause no damage unless you provoke them with Dark magic. They do not feed on fouls or lead them astray." Harry woke up wondering what happened to get the centaurs so upset.

Hermione woke up also. Even though he was avoiding and ignoring her during the day, Harry's soul wasn't ignoring her during their night roams. In fact, he seemed almost affectionate. The little girl had been right in their third dream meeting a week ago, in which, Hermione had been thoroughly laughed at after she was forced to explain herself for avoiding Harry once again. Wasn't it embarrassing enough to have Harry see her nude, but to have the young stranger laugh at her because of her embarrassment around the boy? It made her feel terribly foolish, and she didn't like it.

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Even though Ron couldn't read minds, he did notice the strong tension that seemed to suddenly pop up between his best friends. Harry in particular. There wasn't any arguing, but you could feel how thick the tension was. It annoyed Ron. They were keeping secrets from him. He knew it was something big when Harry avoided Hermione. It was a week before the Christmas Holiday, that Ron decided to do something about it. He cornered Harry up in their dormitory one evening. Something that Harry had been dreading.

"What exactly is going on Harry?" Ron interrogated after he had shoved Harry into the dormitory after Harry had run straight passed Hermione without saying hello or an excuse as to why he couldn't stay.

"Nothing is happening." Harry lied.

"Bullocks!" Ron shouted as he sealed the door shut. Harry looked strained and reluctant. "Tell the truth Harry. Something is happening. Now, you are going to tell me one way or another on what it is and why you're acting this way. I would like answer before Luna comes for our rounds."

"Fine. " Harry sighed as he sat down on the windowsill next to his bed. "It's time I told you everything. It may be best if you sit down."

Ron followed Harry's instruction and sat down on his bed.

"Okay. Do you remember what happened in the Department of Mysteries last June?" Harry asked.

Ron snorted. "How can I not." He said as he pulled back the sleeves of his robes to show the markings that the brains had left behind.

Harry plastered a sheepish look on his face as he looked at the marks. "Do you remember that prophecy that we encountered?"

"Yeah. It broke didn't it? And no one heard it." Ron said.

"It did break, but…" Harry trailed off. Ron gulped. Why did there have to be a 'but?' "Someone said that prophecy to someone else. S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D. Remember?"

"So who would A.P.W.B.D be?" Ron asked hoping that whoever had the long name was a good person.

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore." Harry sighed.

"Dumbledore knew?" Ron asked in awe. Harry nodded.

"He told me what was said in it." Harry told him. Ron's expression turned from Awe to horror.

"W-what was…" Ron trailed off unable to finish. But Harry knew what he was going to say anyway. Harry repeated the whole prophecy to him and the look on Ron's face turned from one of horror to nausea.

Once Ron had gotten up the courage to say anything he said, "Y-you need to tell Hermione."

"She already knows, she accidentally found out last summer." Harry admitted.

"Accidentally huh. I bet she went mental on you." Ron said quietly. He seemed to understand why Harry didn't tell him.

"She did…once I woke up." Harry said.

"Woke up?" Ron asked.

"I accidentally muttered it in my sleep."

"So that was the big secret?" Ron continued his voice still quiet. "H-have you got any clue what to do against You-Know-Who?"

"Professor Dumbledore has hinted that the power the Dark Lord knows not may have something to do with Love. And Oddly enough Professor Gryphon had some information that might be useful, but it is written in Ancient Runes." Harry replied.

"Then why are you avoiding Hermione for!" Ron shouted suddenly. "She is possibly your only hope of survival!"

"You see Ron it isn't that simple." Harry said. It was now his turn to have a horrified look on his face.

"Why isn't it?" Ron demanded.

"I…" Harry trailed finding it difficult to tell Ron something Harry wished he didn't have to do. "I…"

"Get on with it!" Ron blurted angrily.

"I've realized that I fancy Hermione. Okay!" Harry shouted and everything went silent. Ron included.

"The reason I am avoiding her is so I wouldn't take her away from you. You have fancied her for a longer time." Harry continued in a quieter tone. They both sat there in silence for five minutes. A thousand thoughts speeding through the minds of both young men.

"The noble one as always." Ron muttered.

"Huh?" Harry sounded thickly.

"I have been selfish and you have been a good friend. Even when you are truly in love with her, you won't take her because I staked claim first. To tell you the truth my feelings for her have changed, I don't fancy her like I used to. The Wizarding world depends on you. A world I have lived in my whole life in. If this information is important as to let you save the world as I have known it, then I must do my part and give Hermione up to save it." Ron said. "I can't keep her from you when I clearly have no great need of her. To add to that, Hermione never reciprocated my interest."

"Why?" Harry said bewildered.

"Mate haven't you ever seen how she looks at you?" Ron asked. Harry shook his head.

"It's the look that I have been trying to ignore for a long time. Since she never looked at me that way." Ron explained. "It's the same look she gets when she is talking about something she loves to do. I hate to say this but you both have an understanding between you that not even I can understand."

"Why are you doing this?' Harry asked.

"Ever since Luna kissed me on the cheek the day of the match, I have had to battle with confusion, with something I didn't understand. That kiss made me realize that even though Hermione is a great girl, maybe she and I weren't meant for each other."

"Wow, Ron that is surprisingly mature of you." Harry commented.

"I know, revel in it because it may not happen again." Ron joked. There was a knock at the door. Harry got up to open it, but was held back suddenly.

"Now is the time you need to seek her out. You need her help. If I ever find out you hurt her, there will be hell to pay. I will keep my silence on this matter. The truth of the relationship between you and Hermione will stay between the three of us until the end of the war." Ron threatened and let Harry go. Harry nodded in agreement and went to answer the door. Neville stood there with Ginny behind him. They were holding hands

"Ron, Luna is waiting for you." Neville said.

"Thanks, Neville." Ron said as he went out the door. Harry noticed Ron's eyes flicker down to the couple's clasped hands and then up to their faces. "I need to speak with you both when I get back, so please don't go into hiding while I am gone. Remember what I said Harry, seek her out, you need her help!" And Ron disappeared down the staircase.

"What's got into him?" Ginny asked Harry. Harry didn't answer but knew exactly what it was, being told the Prophecy had a sobering and maturing effect on Ron.

"Ginny, is Hermione still down in the common room?" Harry asked.

"No, she left the tower when you came up here." Ginny answered. She seemed to be glaring at him. It told him Hermione was hurt by his action.

Author's note:

Any holes that you think need to be filled in? Questions? Comments? Please put them in review form.

As for the next chapter (The Charm's Incantation) it should be up when I feel that it is time. So until then please review and Hang Tight.