* * *
Ron tried to put his arms around Hermione, to comfort her, but she pushed him away.
"No, dont," she said hollowly," Just listen." And she told him everything. About recieving the necklace, seeing himself, finding herself attracted to him, blowing off Harry, her feelings fading when the necklace fell off in the library, finding the ripped-out book page in her pocket............ And by the time she was finished, big, salty tears were rolling down her face.
"Dont you see," she whispered, watching Ron's face staring blankly in dis-belief," My love for you is fake. I only love you when Im wearing the necklace." With that, Ron sank onto the couch with his head in his hands. Hermoine went on:
" And you dont deserve that Ron. You deserve real love." She was sobbing now.
" I dont want to have to wear a peice of metal in order to be with you, Its not right. Im so, so sorry."
She sank to the floor, sobbing. In her grief, she didn't even notice Ron suddenly sitting up straight, wiping a few tears from his cheeks with his sleeve.
"Hermoine......." He said slowly.
" I know Ron, Im terrible. Putting you through all this just because I was too stupid to see....." She sniffed again, fresh tears forming in her eyes. She collapsed in sobs again.
"Hermione," Ron said, a little more forcefully. She didn't even look up.
"Hermione!!!" Ron practically shouted. She lifted her tear-stained face to look at him.
"All of those feelings, do you feel them right now??" Ron asked anxiously.
"Of course," she said softly, " But it doesn't matter. Its only because of the charm." She choked back another sob, but Ron leaped up excitedly.
"You mean it, you still have feelings for me at this moment?! Hermoine stared at him,
"I said I did," she whispered, "But what does it matter?" Ron sat down on the floor next to her and grabbed her hands. He lifted one of them near the base of her neck.
"Because, Hermione." She lifted her eyes to his as he placed her hand against her neck.
"You aren't wearing the necklace."
* * *
"Im- I'm what? Hermione gasped in disbelief. Then, hardly daring to breath, she felt for the necklace. It was gone. It wasn't there. She blinked.
"Its not there...." she said slowly, looking at Ron, his gaze boring into her. "Its-, its not there!" Ron grabbed her hand and squeezed it.
"I know." He said, looking at her.
"But, but that means......." She looked into his eyes.
"Yea," Ron smiled and put his arms around her waist. "That means we're in love for real." And when his lips met hers, she felt happiness explode in her like she had never felt before.One of her hands buried itself in his soft hair,, and the other one went up the back of his shirt as she held him tightly to her. They kissed once, and again, and again, like lovers reunited.
"Which really," Hermione thought giddly as she ran her tongue along his teeth," We are." And with that she sank into his embrace, and everything else around her dissolved into sweet nothingness.
* * *
Ginny stared. There was Harry, sitting in the common room alone, looking right back at her.
"Oh no....." Ginny though. Ever since Harry had kissed her, she had decided that he must have been upset about Hermione, and that was the reason he had kissed her. So she had been pretending that it had never happened. And now, she had to talk to him. She franticlly searched her mind for something to say, and what came out was:
"Uh, hi Harry, want to play The Game of Questions?" It was a new wizarding game the she had just gotten for Christmas that involved simply a deck of magical cards that switched questions so you could never be asked the same thing twice, and a living scoreboard. For every question you got right or answered truthfully, you got a point. First to twenty wins. Harry looked just as relieved as Ginny felt that she had said something, and quickly agreed to play. They had been playing for about a half hour, and they both had just gotten sprayed by the scoreboard because Ginny had answered Harry's question ( the capital of Africa) wrong, when Ginny drew a blank card.
"Whats this?" she said.
"I think it means," Harry said slowly," That you get to ask a question of your own."
"Oh," said Ginny, staring at the card. She thought for a moment. What did she want to know about Harry? An obvious question stuck out in her mind, but should she ask it? Then she got up her nerve.
"Alright Harry Potter," she said, looking him in the eye," Why did you kiss me?"
* * *
Harry's thoughts:
Damn..........................
* * *
"Ummm..... Um......" Harry stuttered. Ginny just stared at him, an un-readable expression on her face.
"I guess," he said," because.... I wanted to..." The scorebord aimed a water gun at his head.
"Ok, ok, I uh, really wanted to...." He glanced at Ginny, and then at the scoreboard which was waving its gun menacingly at Harry.
"And because....." Harry gulped. "Because I like you." The scoreboard clanged its approval to show that Harry had scored a point. But that wasn't what Ginny was paying attention to. The whole world seemed to close in except for Harry's face.
"Well Harry," Ginny said slowing, looking into his eyes," I like you too." And she kissed him. The clock struck midnight and the scoreboard danced a victorious macarana, but Ginny could have cared less. And just when she was about to sink into forever, the protrait door hit the inside wall in a way that could only mean that the door to the Gryfindor Common Room was totally open, and that someone was standing in the doorway.
* * *
