Chapter Three: Frivolity
Recently she had been confusing her dreams with reality. Perhaps it was possible that this was yet another figment of her imagination. Any moment now she would be back in her dormitory worrying about her last Ancient Runes essay and the end of the year exams.
As much as she wanted to believe it, she knew it wasn't true. For one thing this nightmare had lasted much longer than 30 minutes. For another she had used her last charm two weeks earlier. But right now she was trying to forget all of those logical thoughts. She refused to believe that he was gone. The greatest wizard in the world was gone. Dead.
She leaned forward as another sob shook her body. She pressed on her eyes with the heels of her hands to try and stop the tears, only succeeding in soaking her hands and hurting her tender eyes even more. Her sob caught in her throat as a large warm hand came to rest on her back.
She looked up slowly and saw Ron looking at her with a small, sad smile. His eyes were sparkling with unshed tears and red from days of refusing to cry. The hand on her back was making nonsensical patterns and was soothing. He brought his free hand to her cheeks, wiping away the tears only to watch them be replaced. Realizing that he was fighting a losing battle, he dropped his arm to her waist and pulled her close so that she was crying onto his shoulder.
The hand on her back moved into her hair, stroking it softly as he mumbled broken sentences of comfort into her hair.
Without moving her head from his shoulder she whispered, "Ron, its okay for you to cry too. I won't tell anyone."
She knew that he hadn't cried because he'd wanted to stay strong for Harry, Ginny and herself. But really that was just foolish, and both of them had been foolish enough for one year.
-:-
Ron sat alone in the common room after challenging himself to a game of chess. Lavender had just retreated to her dorm room after a night of snogging, and Harry and Hermione were at Slughorn's party. He didn't care though. He never really wanted to go; he'd just thought it would have been fun to show everyone his lace-free dress robes. It wasn't like he could wear that to Potions after all.
He had just instructed his rook to take out one of his other side's pawns, when the portrait hole slammed open and a very livid Hermione entered the room. She didn't notice him right away giving him the opportunity to examine her appearance. She was wearing her new dress robes, which seemed oddly disheveled, and her hair was unintentionally half in a bun and half falling out.
Still not noticing his presence in the otherwise empty common room, Hermione began pacing the room pausing to kick out at a sofa. She gave a small yelp as she grabbed her foot and hopped up and down on the other.
Ron stopped himself from laughing at the sight, but couldn't stop the grin that spread across his face as he made his presence known.
"What happened to you?"
Hermione froze mid-hop and lowered her foot to the ground. She stood with her back to him for a moment before slowly turning to face him with murder in her eyes. The smile slipped from his face as he remembered the canary incident from the other night.
He gulped audibly as she walked towards him her hands forming fists at her sides. He couldn't stop his brain from choosing that moment to think how beautiful she looked tonight, especially with the pink flush rising in her cheeks and the spark in her eyes.
"Is that all you boys think about?" she asked, her voice low and menacing.
His eyes widened as he wondered if he had spoken aloud. "Uh…I…excuse me?"
"Snogging?" she practically growled. "Let's get her under the mistletoe as soon as we get there. Let's leave the party and head back to the empty common room. Honestly, unlike some people I don't enjoy having my face eaten off!"
Ron felt his anger growing, and despite her last comment it was not directed at Hermione. "What did McLaggen do? Are you alright?"
Hermione snorted before placing her hands on her hips. "I think you of all people should know what he 'did' to me, Ronald. Seriously, is that all you boys think about?"
Ron opened his mouth to protest, but she held up a hand to stop him.
"Never mind, look who I'm asking." She brought a hand to her head, rubbing her temple, before giving a great sigh. "Good night Ronald. Have a Happy Christmas," she said feebly before retreating up the stairs to her dormitory.
-:-
Hermione was brought back to the present when she felt something wet hit the top of her head. She looked up at Ron and saw a tear leave his closed eye and roll down his nose, while another clung to the eyelashes of his other eye.
Sensing that she was watching him he pulled her back to his shoulder and set his chin on top of her head. She closed her eyes as well, and they cried together for a few more minutes.
When she couldn't cry anymore, although she knew that that wouldn't last long, she tilted her head at an odd angle to look at Ron. He seemed to have cried all that he would allow himself to cry, and was now just sitting with his eyes closed and his head resting on hers.
"Ron?" she asked quietly.
"Hmmm?" was his only answer.
"What happens now?"
He pulled back slightly and looked down at her with a small smile. "You're asking me?" he asked amusedly and somewhat surprised that for once she didn't know the answer.
She wasn't amused, and simply nodded. "Yes," she stated firmly.
He dropped the smile and stood up, holding out a hand for her to take. "Now, we go with Harry to…well to wherever it is that he's going I s'pose."
She smiled softly and took his hand, letting him pull her up. "So we're agreed? We stick with Harry no matter what."
"Of course," he replied dragging her away. "He wouldn't dare do something stupid without me, and we would be mad to do something stupid without you there to get us out of it."
She shoved him playfully with her free hand and bit her lip to keep from grinning. "Prat," she mumbled. She stopped walking suddenly and turned to him. "So it's just like our old adventures then?" She knew it wasn't. It would be far more dangerous than anything they'd ever done before. But for now she was willing to pretend.
"Exactly," he lied. "Come on," he added starting to walk with her again. "Let's go find The-Boy-With-Too-Many-Bloody-Titles."
She snickered at this and allowed him to pull her away from the white tomb. No, this wasn't a dream. It was reality. And it was exactly where she needed to be.
A/N: Okay, well this is the final part to this fanfic, but I just want to thank everyone who has reviewed, or is going to review. I really hope that you enjoyed this fic and keep an eye out for my next story. Cheers everyone!