166Two Tickets to Rome
Summary: Two strangers. One train. A ten-hour journey. Who said magic can't happen on a train ride to Rome? A new take on the first meeting between our favourite Witch and Wizard. RomioneAU
A/N: Wow, thank you for all the amazing feedback! As I had somewhat anticipated, you wonderful readers wanted me to write my additional epilogue – so here we go! I hope you like it:)
Epilogue Part One
The day had finally arrived.
Hermione and Ron had, after being reunited in Romania, continued to trek through Europe. They had visited Hungary, ecstatic about the wonderful architecture there. Then, they had hiked on the white rocks of the mountain tops of Slovenia, before they boarded a train heading for Greece.
She shivered.
Yesterday, she and Ron had hired a boat, exploring the Greek shore.
They had felt the wind blowing through their hair, the deep blue colour of the water beneath them was sparkling with the warming light of the sun.
They had found a creek all by themselves. Then Ron had kissed her.
It was by far one of the fondest memories Hermione had.
But now, the day had arrived.
The day they were going home.
Anxiety rippled underneath her skin, like a volcano would rumble just before erupting.
"Hermione," Ron murmured into her hair, his arms around her in a caring embrace.
She sighed.
"Are you ready?"
"Will I ever be?" she asked, looking up to meet his eyes. His freckles were dark from the sun, his cheeks glowing slightly red.
Ron caressed her hair, pulling a stray, brown lock behind her ear.
"It's going to be fine," he said reassuringly.
Hermione nodded with determination, forcing a brave face.
Then, she put her hand on the Portkey, and the world around her mashed together in an instant.
She shut her eyes, afraid that she would barf when they landed.
The spinning stopped.
The wind that had been screaming in her ears, stopped immediately. With a sense of dread, she opened her eyes.
They stood in the driveway of a tall and crooked house, which desperately needed another stroke or two of paint. Around them, weeds were growing wildly. If not for the light in the windows, Hermione would have thought of it as abandoned.
"It's not much," Ron said, his voice soft with homesickness, "But it's home,"
She opened her mouth to reply.
Chaos ensued.
Out of the door sprinted a crowd of redheads, their eyes locked on the newcomers.
"It's Ron!" one of them shrieked.
"They're here!" another one of them said.
Hermione hadn't closed her mouth, still frozen in shock.
Ron squeezed her shoulder, jerking her out of her daze.
She turned to look at him, eyes wide, eyebrows furrowed in worry. She mouthed, "There are so many,"
She felt nauseous.
"You'll do alright," he reassured her, although it hardly helped. The crowd of redheads had reached them. She tried to smile invitingly, but ended up with a stiff, forced smile that looked more like a grimace.
"You are Hermione?" one of them asked, "We – I thought Ronnie had made you up!"
Her smile weakened, hearing his correction from 'we' to 'I'. She remembered Ron had told her about the twins, that one of them had died. She figured that this was the brother that had survived – George.
"Yes, I'm Hermione," she said, snorting a bit, then immediately regretting it. They must think she was being rude!
A plump woman made her way through, swatting the others away.
"Where are your manners!" she scolded, "She is a guest, and at the Burrow we treat guests like human beings, not like animals in the zoo," she said.
"It is alright, really," Hermione said.
The woman turned around to Hermione, showing what she looked like, a lovely woman with a broad smile, "I am Molly Weasley, Ronald's mother," she said.
She gestured to the others.
"This is Arthur, my husband and their father," she said. The man in question smiled broadly and nodded excitedly as she spoke.
"Bill, the oldest," He was a tall man, with deep dimples in his cheeks.
"Charlie here, I've heard you've already met,"
Charlie nodded at her, then chuckled knowingly, "Nice to see you again, Hermione,"
"Percy," Mrs. Weasley introduced. Percy stood rigidly, his mouth curved into a thin-lipped and stiff smile. He wore a tie, fastened tightly around his throat.
He nodded, although Hermione felt like it was far from friendly. Ron rubbed her shoulder.
She remembered him telling her about Percy. Apparently, he was like that with everybody.
"And this is George," The lonesome twin had a mischievous look on his face, but Hermione could tell that he was tired, from the dark bags under his eyes to his deflated, hunched-over pose.
"Lastly, the youngest. This is –"
Before Hermione could stop herself, she interrupted, "Ginny,"
Ron laughed warmly beside her, accompanied by Charlie.
Mrs. Weasley looked surprised, "Yes, Ginevra, or Ginny,"
Hermione was worried for a bit, that once again she had sounded rude, but was proven incorrect by how the rest of the family eased into comforting laughter.
"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, all," she said politely, not knowing where to place her hands. In the end, she let them dangle at her sides awkwardly.
The others agreed, in a murmur of different voices.
"Now, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, leading her away from Ron and towards the house, "Let us go inside, where we can all get some peace,"
One of the boys snickered behind them, and Mrs. Weasley looked over her shoulder at the perpetrator. He choked.
When they got inside, Hermione was greeted with the smell of firewood and pie.
She found Ron in the crowd, and with his arm around her in support, socialized with his siblings.
She found that she immediately liked Ginny, and before she could blink, they were suddenly sitting by the table, talking privately about how she had broken up with her ex the year before she had met Harry.
Soon, Mr. Weasley interrupted their private chat, "Tell me, Hermione, what does your parents do for a living?"
"They are dentists, Mr. Weasley," she answered.
His eyebrows rose in interest, "So you are Muggleborn? Then perhaps you could explain to me how my new Muggle device works, after dinner? I think they called it a smart-phone!" he smiled excitedly, a gesture she did not expect from a Pureblooded wizard who just found out his son is dating a Muggleborn.
He added, "And no need to call me Mr. Weasley. Please, just Arthur,"
After finishing both the pie and the pleasantries with Mr. Weasley – no, Arthur – Hermione and Ginny once again connected.
Ginny leaned over the table, chattering excitedly with her.
They talked about both everything and nothing in particular. It had been long since Hermione had felt such a belonging like she did with Ginny.
"And then, Harry asked me out –" Ginny giggled. Hermione couldn't help giggling as well, nodding along as the story progressed.
On the other side of the table, squeezed between Charlie and Bill's animated discussion, sat Ron.
With a knowing smile, he was looking at Hermione, who was joking with Ginny, unaware of how fondly he was looking at her.
They were both laughing now, Ginny and Hermione. Ron could see the laughter wrinkle the corners of Ginny's eyes. Their joy was genuine, and it made something inside him puff with pride.
Hermione turned around. She saw Ron, and a light blush appeared on her cheeks.
The roaring laughter around him seemed to still abruptly, freezing the moment for only a second. He admired the way her hair frizzed around her face, the way her eyes were twinkling, and the gently way she was rocking with laughter.
He smiled, feeling the warmth spreading from his lungs, and all the way into the tips of his ears. He was blushing now, too.
Hermione never seemed to stop impressing him.
The Weasley family already liked her.
A/N: A little sneak peek from Ron's perspective in the end here. Please leave a review and tell me what you think! Can you guess what Epilogue Part Two is going to be about?