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| Starring: Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger - Ron, being Ron, makes a slip and insults Hermione. But this time, it's a different kind of insult. This one causes Hermione to lose all reason and self control, unleashing a power she never knew she had. |
| The buzz around Hogwarts was certainly not You-Know-Who. Not that day at least. It wasn�t the fact that Lee Jordan had cast an Engorging Charm on his pet tarantula, causing a pale-faced Weasley boy to hide in the depths of the common room sofa. It wasn�t the last Quidditch game, in which the famous Boy-Who-Lived turned Seeker clobbered Slytherin by catching the Snitch right off the opposing Seeker�s broom. No, it wasn�t even the fact that two unlikely Hufflepuff and Gryffindor prefects had been caught kissing in the Arithmancy classroom.
It was the uncharacteristic weather. The rumor milling about the famous school of Witchcraft and Wizardry was that the sudden change in weather had to do with an overall temperament, a general feeling brewing in certain powerful people. The Headmaster of the school, Professor Albus Dumbledore, stood up to address the students that gloomy day in April of the year 1997. He clapped his hands together and a most extraordinary thing happened. The entire Hall grew silent. �I�m sure you have all noticed a very strange change in the weather,� he said, pointing out a fact that made many students comment lightly under their breath. �It is rainy, dark, and cloudy, whereas only mere hours ago, the sky was completely cloudless. There is a very simple explanation for what has gone on here.� The students at the Gryffindor table, including three very well known sixth-years, were curious to say the least. They had seen their fair share of phenomenons. This one would be easy to handle. At least, that�s what they thought. �As I�m sure most of you have learned about sometime in your Hogwarts education, there are certain witches and wizards with very deep, incredible powers. Sometimes they do not even realize they harbor these powers. It is because of these powers that certain things happen. Sometimes their feelings can be shown in their cooking, their every day work, or as we can all clearly see, the weather.� Everyone looked around questioningly. Not one of them had a clue what the old Professor was talking about. �It is very obvious that someone in our midst has the power to change the weather by way of exhibiting very strong feelings.� This time, the entire Hall burst into chatter. It died down when they realized Dumbledore still had a few things to say. �And when this certain person realizes their power and can change their mood, the weather will change. So, until this elected time happens, all Herbology lessons will be held in the dungeons�� The Professor�s voice trailed off. Harry Potter looked at his two best friends anxiously. �No Quidditch practice! I can�t believe this! Whoever this person is better fix their attitude fast.� Ron Weasley scoffed. �Like it could be any of the students here. No one is that powerful,� he suddenly looked up at the girl sitting across from him. �Hermione, do you want my muffin?� Every day is so wonderful Then suddenly, it�s hard to breathe However, Hermione Granger was paying him no attention. Had he gone completely ignorant? She only shook her head and stared down at her plate, picking at her food. She made no move to notice that he had shrugged and taken a huge bite of the muffin. How thick was Ron Weasley going to become? He seemed to grow more so each year as Hermione became more desperate. She was clinging to the notion that he shared the same feelings for her that she did him, but it was certainly a doomed feeling. They still got into very planned and routine fights, arguments that involved the same exact thing every time. �Don�t copy off Harry.� �Oh come off it, Hermione.� �Do your homework, Ron.� �Don�t nag.� �Writing to Vicky again?� �Don�t call him Vicky!� Hermione was tiring of it, and she was tiring fast. Why couldn�t he just open his eyes? She had woken up that day feeling completely free and elated. Today was going to be a great day. The weather was beautiful, the sun was bright, and she could practically smell the flowers growing. However, her hopes of having a good day were dashed the moment Ronald Weasley opened that insufferably huge mouth of his. Now and then, I get insecure From all the pain, I�m so ashamed It only figured. She was going to kill him. He was so stupid! The first words out of your mouth when addressing a girl should not be, �You�re going to class like that?� Of course, Hermione had taken it upon herself to slap him. This had caused an almighty rage of fury, in which Ron had trouble not grabbing Hermione and shaking her. They screamed at each other for almost a half-hour when Harry finally spoke up. �Time to go to breakfast.� By this time, Hermione was in such a foul mood that she had not noticed the dark gray clouds looming outside the window. I am beautiful no matter what they say Words can�t bring me down I am beautiful in every single way Yes words can�t bring me down Most of her fury had passed, and obviously so had Ron�s. She had to give him that much. He had definitely grown out of holding grudges. She would never forget the two whole months three years ago when he had not spoken to her because of an assumed attack on his stupid rat. Then he had been angry with Harry for just as long for something Harry had no control over. That much was true. Ron Weasley now forgot about fights ten minutes after having them as opposed to sixty days. Did he really think she was ugly? Sure, she wasn�t the prettiest girl in their year. She wasn�t the most attractive girl in their house even. But she wasn�t� ugly� was she? What hurt her more than anything was to hear it coming from his mouth. Ron Weasley. The boy she had liked since her second year at Hogwarts. How come he couldn�t see that? And why was he so dense? He had a sister� surely he knew you didn�t make that kind of a comment� not to a girl� but then again he didn�t know she was in love with him. But she held her head high. Ronald Weasley was not going to get the best of her. So don�t you bring me down today But Ronald Weasley already had gotten the best of her. Her heart. To all your friends, you�re delirious So consumed in all your doom The students filed out of the Great Hall that morning, chattering excitedly about who could possibly be the one person powerful enough to control the weather. It had gone from bright and beautiful to gloomy and depressing in a matter of minutes. How had that happened? Who had that kind of determination? Hermione followed Harry and Ron as they made their way to their first class, Charms. Neither of them seemed to notice that she was lagging so far behind that she was completely out of earshot. �I cannot believe you said that to her this morning. Are you daft?� Harry was whispering harshly to his friend. Ron appeared completely helpless. �I was just trying to joke�� �You don�t joke about that kind of thing with a girl! Especially a girl like Hermione.� �What do you mean a girl like Hermione?� Ron was instantly defensive. Harry rolled his bright green eyes. �You know exactly what I mean �a girl like Hermione.� A girl you�re completely in love with.� Ron�s eyes widened as he slapped his hand over Harry�s mouth and turned to look over his shoulder. Yet he didn�t see any sign of Hermione. �Wait a minute, where is she?� Harry turned around and looked. Ron, being the taller of the two, peered over the many heads of the crowd and couldn�t find her anywhere. Trying hard to fill the emptiness The piece is gone and the puzzle undone Hermione was never much of a crier, but it felt like everything was suddenly going wrong and she had to find a way to let it out. Neither Harry nor Ron had even noticed that she�d disappeared from the crowd and run outside. She was suddenly unaware of what was going on around her. She felt almost protected by the foul weather. She knew it wasn�t going to rain on her head. She just had to get away. To hell with Charms, she thought nastily to herself. I need to get away. Tossing her bag down by the vast lake, she huddled up against a tree and stared up at the clouds. Hermione felt a sudden kinship to the ominous clouds, knowing that they reflected absolutely everything she felt inside of her. That�s the way it is She was in love with a person who completely hated her. You are beautiful no matter what they say Words won�t bring you down You are beautiful in every single way Yes, words can�t bring you down They had arrived and were seated in the Charms classroom. Harry had suggested that Hermione probably went to talk to a Professor about homework or went into the library to get another book and would be along shortly. However, almost three minutes had passed and there was still no sign of her. Ron was getting worried. It wasn�t like her to just ditch class. He couldn�t imagine of anywhere she could possibly have gone to justify her tardiness. She had been right behind them� And it was starting to click in Ron�s head. He threw all of his things back into his book bag. Harry frowned. �What are you doing?� �I�ve got to go,� Ron replied distractedly. �I�ll see you at lunch,� he said, grabbing his things and fleeing the classroom. All Harry could do was sputter, confused out of his mind. So don�t you bring me down today Hermione rolled over onto her stomach and stared out at the lake. Her mood became more unpleasant as the time passed. She couldn�t stop thinking. Ron was completely oblivious to everything. She still remembered the words she had yelled at him two years ago clear in her head. �Next time there�s a ball, ask me before someone else does and not as a last resort!� Hadn�t that, in plain words, meant �I like you, I wanted you to ask me, you�re just too blind to see it?� Or was she wrong? Was she sending mixed signals? Tears poured unwillingly down her cheeks, and she noticed that much to her chagrin, it began to rain. No matter what we do Ron had to be careful. He definitely didn�t need any of the teachers to go roaming around and find him out of class. All he needed was to find Hermione. He was so close to getting it� it was right on the edge of his brain, waiting to be added up. Maybe if he said what he needed to say, he would receive the kind of answer back that he had always wished to hear. He was in love with Hermione Granger. She had really made him think her fourth year after screaming at him after the Yule Ball. She was right. He should have noticed that she was a �girl� sooner, before someone else did. That was his Hermione! His! How dare someone else take her! But he had not really had a claim on her to begin with. And that was his mistake. No matter what we say He doesn�t love me. He never will love me. He thinks I�m just a prim, bossy know-it-all with my nose buried in books and no time for anything fun. Why would he ever want someone like me? The tears Hermione was sure were going to simply drip out were now pouring down her cheeks in torrents. The rain above her head was pounding down on top of her. She was completely soaked, head to toe, her teeth chattering, her lips turning an unnatural shade of blue. None of that mattered. When the sun is shining through Then the clouds won�t stay Ron looked up abruptly at the sky outside. It was simply pouring now. If he was going to do what he had set out to, he had to do it fast. The rain couldn�t last forever. There was too much at stake. And if what he had thought up in his head was true, this meant only one thing. He had hurt the girl he loved more than he could have ever dreamed possible. Sighing inwardly, fighting back tears of his own, he rushed through the corridors, peering nervously and cautiously into all of the classrooms to make sure Hermione hadn�t run off somewhere completely unexpected. As he chanced a glance out the window, he had to do a double take. There was someone sitting by the lake, their head in their hands, dripping wet. He may have been many meters away from this person, but he knew at a glance who it was. He pushed open the great oak doors leading into Hogwarts and descended the steps. He felt the rain soak right through his clothes, and along with it, he felt the bitter chill of loneliness. It terrified him. And then here she was� sitting right by the lake, her arms wrapped around her body as if to bring in some warmth, soaked from head to foot, crying. �Oh, Hermione.� And everywhere we go The sun won�t always shine She looked up abruptly. It was Ron! He was definitely the last person she had expected to see. �Aren�t you supposed to be in Charms?� she shot at him acidly. A bolt of lightning shot overhead. Ron looked up hopelessly. �Listen to me, Hermione, you need to come inside. It�s cold out here, you�re going to get sick.� She scoffed rudely. �Like you care if I get sick.� His jaw dropped. �I most certainly do care. I care a lot about you. Is that what this is all about?� �What are you talking about?� She still hadn�t figured it out. Ron had for once, outwitted Hermione. He threw his bag down and knelt down next to Hermione. �Why are you so lonely? What are you bitter for? You�ve got everything.� She shook her head, her drenched brown tresses flicking water as she did so. �I don�t have everything. I feel like I�m going to fall apart. I can�t handle this anymore.� �What? Can�t handle what?� Hermione looked up at Ron for a second, considering seriously whether or not to tell him. She suddenly realized how close they were and stood up immediately. �What are you doing? Go away! Get away from me! I have nothing to say to you.� Ron�s eyes shone with tears. �Please, Hermione, I have something to tell you.� But tomorrow will find a way All the other times �Why in the name of Merlin, would you ever care about whether or not I was out here, freezing to death?� Ron�s heart thudded crazily against the walls of his chest. He stepped toward her. �Don�t. Hermione, don�t pull this on me here. Why can�t you see?� �Can�t see what? WHAT? Why can�t YOU see?� Hermione turned away from him and cried again, this time sobbing so loud that thunder broke behind him. He walked up behind her and put his hands gingerly on her shoulders. She didn�t respond to it, but didn�t pull away either. He dared to lean in closer and put his lips right up to her ear. �Hermione� I love you.� We are beautiful no matter what the say Yes words won�t bring us down We are beautiful in every single way Yes words can�t bring us down She stopped sobbing and her arms fell lax at her sides. Her jaw dropped and suddenly she spun around, staring at him acidly. �You�re lying! Who put you up to this?� His brow furrowed in confusion. �I would never lie to you, Hermione! Not about this!� �You�re just taking pity on me, you don�t love me.� �Yes I do! Why do you think I don�t?� She looked up at him, opening and closing her mouth for a few seconds before dropping to her knees again. Ron flung himself forward to catch her. She sobbed. �Why do you think I don�t love you?� Ron asked again. �Because,� she said, in between breaths. �Because I�ve been in love with you for so long� that-that it seemed impossible you would ever feel the same about me.� Ron wasn�t sure what to say or how to respond to such a statement. Instead, he took his cloak off and placed it around Hermione�s shoulders. He drew her in closely and she allowed him to hold her while she sobbed onto his shoulder. Don�t you bring me down today After a couple of minutes, Hermione looked up at Ron�s face. He had rested his chin against her head, but pulled back as she stared at him. His scarlet hair was now dampened against his forehead, his bright blue eyes shining with love and adoration. Water dripped off of his pale, freckled cheeks and into her mass of sodden curls. He glanced down at her and his thin, pink lips stretched into a smile. Don�t you bring me down today She closed her eyes and tipped her head up toward Ron as he pressed his lips down on top of hers. The first connection was electric, and the two of them felt the rain cease as the kiss continued. They pressed further into each other�s lips and Ron allowed his fingers to lightly caress Hermione�s jawbone. She whimpered lightly at his touch and dug her fingers into the fabric of his shirt, begging him to go deeper. He parted his lips slightly and moved his hands up to her hair. The clouds shifted and the sun began to beat down on top of the two of them. Ron pulled out of the kiss and pressed his forehead onto Hermione�s. He traced her lips lightly with his thumb and then allowed his fingers to move down and he pointed at her heart. �Hermione, I love you with everything that I am. Don�t you ever make a mess like this happen again.� Placing both of her hands on Ron�s cheeks, she looked him straight in the eye. �There�s no need to anymore,� and kissed him again. |