The Choice

"It's time you made a choice, Hermione."

The young woman fell to her knees in sobs. This was it. Her life as she knew it had come to an end. She, Hermione Granger, had committed the unpardonable sin of falling in love with two men. Not just any ordinary men, but the ones who had been her best friends for over ten years. The two built forms of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley towered over her like the gates of Hell. It had gone on too long, and the two wizards were forcing her to choose between them. Hermione just sat there crying; it had all happened so fast...

What can you say? One two many firewhiskies, a night of merrymaking at
Hogsmeade; it had all led Hermione down the dangerous path she would travel. She had already been in love with both of her friends back then, but she was only seventeen and had convinced herself it meant nothing, even though the burning passion for Harry and Ron was rapidly growing inside of her. She didn't know how or why it had happened, but it was like trying to stop a tornado. It was an unstoppable force of nature. As the old saying goes, 'To much of a good thing can be harmful'; Hermione had spent too much time with Harry and Ron, and now it was eating away at all of them.

***

It had all started the night after Harry, Ron, and Hermione had graduated from Hogwarts. The entire Hogsmeade village was abuzz with the celebration of seventh year students, and all of Gryffindor was gathered at one table, talking about their years at the wizarding school.

"How 'bout a round of butterbeers!" Harry said to Madam Rosmerta. "On me!"

A cheer went up from the table.

"Shucks, Harry," said Seamus. "We're out of school. Let's live a little! Make that firewhisky, Rosie!"

Several of the others stared at Seamus uncertainly, but decided that, since they were of the age and were out of school, what the hell!

Madam Rosmerta arrived out ten minutes later carrying a tray of eight red bottles.

"Cheers!" exclaimed Seamus, raising the bottle.

"Cheers!" the rest of the group said in unison.

With that, they all took their first swig of the most powerful drink in the pub. Then they took another, and another, and soon, all eight bottles had been drained.

"Whoo!" goggled Neville. "That's powerful stuff! What Gran would think if she saw me with this!"

"Let's have another!" shouted a slightly drunk Seamus.

The other Gryffindors, not quite thinking clearly, agreed. Most of them drained two more bottles of firewhisky, and by then they were starting to feel some of its effect.

"Yowza!" shouted Seamus, now completely drunk. "That's goooood stuff! Say, Harry, would you stop spinning around?"

But Harry was feeling just as lightheaded as Seamus. "I think I'm gonna be sick," he said and rushed off toward the bathroom.

Parvati jumped up, swaying slightly as she did so. "Whoopdee!" she cried. "Come on Lav, let's go to Z-zonko's for a bit!"

She and Lavender staggered out of the pub.

"I think I'll go to bed now," said Ron wearily.

He stood up, stumbled and fell. He began to laugh drunkenly, completely intoxicated by the firewhisky. He picked himself up and stumbled up the stairs to the inn.

Hermione, probably the most clueless of all, stood up.

"I think I'll gooo to bed toooo," she said.

She sputtered slightly, and then jogged up the stairs in a rather unstable manner.

"Oh, this is a funnnnny plaace," she giggled. "Everything keeps moooving!"

She stumbled along, and approached a door with a card labeled: RONALD WEASLEY

"Ron," Hermione stuttered. "Ronny! I know him!"

She pushed open the door to find a shirtless Ron lying on his bed, rubbing his forehead. He and Harry had stopped after the first bottle of whisky, so they were only feeling a little sickness.

"Hey Ron!" a drunk Hermione cried out.

"Hermione!" Ron yelped out of shock. He tried to dive beneath the covers.

"Hey, Ron," she sputtered. "I love you!"

Ron's mouth dropped open in shock. He wasn't exactly considering the fact she had been drinking; he merely sat there with a dazed look on his face.

"What?" he said.

"I LOVE YOU RONNY!" she cried out and leapt on top of him.

"Hermione, what the hell is going on with you?"

She responded by giving him a sloppy kiss on the lips, and then she began to undo his pants.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed. "What the-"

She ripped his jeans off of him and he was stuck in nothing but underwear. She then began to undo the buttons of her blouse. Ron gasped as the white top fell away to reveal a cherry red bra. Ron though he had never seen a more beautiful sight.

She's really going to make love to me, he thought,

While every nerve in his brain was screaming at him to get away, his manly instincts overpowered him. He began to undress her, undoing the strap of her bra, pulling the skirt off of her, and slowly sliding away her knickers. All the while she smiled goofily at him, planting more sloppy kisses on his lips.

And that was how Hermione made the first mistake that would destroy her very world.

Hermione awoke the next morning with a pounding headache. She felt like someone was taking a hammer and beating at her brain. Sitting up in the bed she tried to recall what had happened the night before. They had been in the Three Broomsticks with all the Gryffindor graduates. They were drinking and having a good time when Seamus had ordered firewhisky, and then...

That was all she could remember. Everything after that was a blank haze. Looking around she realized she must be in the Three Broomsticks' Inn. She felt her forehead, wondering how she had got there, and then felt something soft and warm beside her. Glancing over she saw bright red hair peeking out from under the covers-Ron.

She screamed in terror and jumped out of bed, only to reveal, well, everything-she was naked. Ron jumped up and whirled around to see her standing there in her birthday suit. She panicked and grabbed the bed sheets to cover herself up.

How dare he look at me like that, she thought to herself.

"RON!" she hollered. "I sure hope you're going to tell me how the hell I wound up in bed with you!"

Before he could answer the door to the room burst open and Lavender, Parvati, and Madam Rosmerta charged in.

"What in Merlin's name is going on?" cried Madam Rosmerta.

"That's what I'd like to know!" exclaimed Hermione, glaring at Ron.

Ron merely sat there, a look of horror on his face.

"Well?" Hermione demanded.

Ron cleared his throat and said. "She was-"

Hermione suddenly jumped up and clasped her hand over his mouth. The hazy events of the night before had suddenly come back to her.

"Sleepwalking," she finished Ron's sentence.

"Sleepwalking?" Madam Rosmerta repeated. "Do you often sleepwalk in nothing but a bedsheet?"

"Well," Hermione had to think quickly. "I think that firewhisky had some strange effects on me."

She sighed. At least she was partly telling the truth.

"Whatever you say, miss," said Madam Rosmerta. "You're all right then?"

"Fine, thank you," Hermione answered.

Madam Rosmerta nodded and left the room. Parvati and Lavender remained, each of them looking from Hermione to Ron and back to Hermione.

"So what were you really doing?" Parvati inquired.

"I told you, sleepwalking!" snapped Hermione.

"A likely story," Parvati teased. "Come on, Lavender. Let's leave these two lovebirds alone."

Hermione glared at them as they left. She then turned that glare on Ron, who looked positively terrified.

"Get dressed," she snapped at him. "I'll be back here in five minutes."

She walked out of the room with the bedsheet still wrapped around her.

Hermione returned just when she said she would, this time covered with a bathrobe. She sat down on the bed next to Ron, still looking furious with him. Even though she put on that face on the outside, deep down she was still fighting her burning love for this boy.

"Ron," she began slowly. "I think we both know what happened last night. I am just curious as to how or why it happened."

He did not speak.

"I'm thinking that perhaps I was a bit drunk from last night, but I do not understand why you were playing along with it. If I recall, you were perfectly sane."

Ron turned a bright shade of red. "I'm sorry, Mione," he said. "I couldn't help it. I should have had more control. It's just, when you said you loved me-"

Hermione gasped. Had she been that out of it? Had she confessed her secret to him without even knowing it?

"Well," Ron continued. "I was just, so happy. I thought that I was crazy, and that my feelings couldn't possibly be reasonable."

"What feelings, Ron?" she asked.

He looked into her warm, brown eyes. "I-, It's kind of hard to say."

"Just tell me!"

He sighed miserably. "I love you, Hermione."

She was frozen to the spot. He was in love with her? She couldn't believe her ears.

"I can understand if you didn't mean what you said last night," he went on, turning away. "You know, since you weren't yourself."

She put her hands on his face and made him look at her. Her face was full of emotion and tears were brimming in her eyes,

"I meant it," she said, and kissed him.

It wasn't a short, sloppy kiss like she had given him the night before, but a long tender one. They both fell back on the pillow, lips never parting, and exchanged the most passionate kiss either if them had ever experienced.

***

That was how Hermione had fallen in love with Ronald Weasley. It had seemed like a mere fling at first, but her emotions had brought her to realize that it was true love. As she looked up at Ron now, she saw that his eyes held no emotion or understanding, none of the sweet, tender care that she had seen in them all those years ago.

Hermione turned her gaze to Harry, only to see that his face was just as expressionless as Ron's. It was hard for her to say whom she found more attractive, but to her, Harry's eyes were positively enchanting. She had lost herself in them countless times during the long nights they had spent together, but now it was all a faint and painful memory. Her story with Harry had been far more complicated and had taken place long after that of her and Ron.

***

She and Ron had kept contact after the events in Hogsmeade. Their relationship had become a long-term secret, and they made careful to never get caught together. Ron had desperately wanted them to come out into the open about it, but Hermione was sure it would not go over well with their friends, Harry in particular. Harry. She couldn't stop thinking about him. Since he had become an Auror, she and Ron hadn't seen much of him. He came to visit each of them on occasion, an every once in a while they would all go back to Hogsmeade together. These visits were few-numbered, however, and Hermione deeply wished she could see Harry more often. It seemed to her that whenever she wasn't with Ron or thinking about him, she was thinking about Harry and wished she could be with him. She missed the old days when the three of them would spend nearly every moment of the day together, going on adventures and sometimes running into trouble. The events occurring in the world were splitting them farther apart with each passing day, and Hermione wished that they could all just go back to school and be together once more.

Be careful what you wish for. Hermione should have paid a little more attention to that piece of advice, for she would come to find that she, Ron, and Harry would become dangerously close, so close that it might ruin their friendship forever.

It was the evening before her 20^th birthday. Hermione was sitting in the porch of her rural home, working on research for her boss at the Ministry, when a shaggy black dog lumbered up the steps and lay down at her feet, resting its head on her feet.

She smiled and reached down to pet the resting animal.

"Hello, Harry," she said sweetly.

The dog stood up, wagged its tail, and then began to twist around until it took the form of a human. A second later, Harry Potter had taken the place of the black dog. He grinned at her and embraced her in his strong grip.

"You really should be more careful," she giggled. "Those green eyes would give you away anywhere."

"All Animagi have to have some sort of markings," he replied.

"Perhaps," she said. "But you don't see too many dogs with bright green eyes."

"True," he laughed.

"Remind me again why you chose to be a mutt?" she laughed.

"Well," he frowned. "I just thought it would have made Sirius happy."

Hermione sighed. She remembered that Harry's godfather had also taken the form of a black dog.

"I'm sorry, Harry," she said. "How can I make it up to you?"

He smirked. "You could stop with that paper long enough to let me take you to dinner. It is your birthday tomorrow, right?"

She smiled to herself. Harry had remembered her birthday, She always had to remind Ron about it, but he always had something special to give her.

"Okay," she said taking up her quill. "Just let me finish one little-"

But she never got to finish it. Harry had grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out into the driveway where a sleek blue car had just appeared.

"Are we not going to Apparate?" she asked.

"How can you Apparate if where we're going is a surprise?" he asked. "Besides, all the Muggles take their dates this way. It's just a bit more fun, don't you think?"

Hermione didn't answer. He had said date. Was he really taking Hermione on a date? Not that she minded it; she just didn't think Ron would approve of her going on a date with Harry. Nevertheless, she was willing to go wherever Harry took her.

"Honestly, Hermione," he said as they zoomed down the highway. "Even after you graduate from school you still keep your nose in the books!"

She gave a slight laugh as she held her head out the window. She couldn't remember the last time she'd rode in a car. It was such a thrill to whip down the highway at high speeds. Most wizards would consider this Muggle transportation slow and primitive, but they did not know what they were missing. You didn't get this sort of chill from Floo Powder. And being with Harry...

She mentally kicked herself. No, Harry was her friend. She couldn't think about him in that way, especially since she was already seeing Ron. But then again...

"Here we are," announced Harry, snapping her out of her daydream.

She looked up to see that they were Theocrates, her favorite Italian restaurant.

"Harry," she gasped. "How did you know?"

He grinned. "I know you, Hermione."

She gave him a quick hug.

"Put your wand away," he said. "We have to be Muggles for a night."

"So how's work?" Harry asked Hermione as they waited on their food.

"Great," said Hermione. She worked in the Department of International Magical Cooperation. "We think that the French ministry has finally gotten their rebellions vanquished."

"Good," said Harry.

Hermione couldn't take her eyes off him; he was so breathtakingly handsome. But she noticed he seemed to be fighting something deep within in him. He had hardly talked since they had entered the restaurant. She had a foolish desire to go over, put and arm around him, and ask him to tell her all his problems, but she knew that would be a mistake. Merlin knew what would happen if she got that close to him. Instead, she merely asked him from across the table.

"What's wrong, Harry?"

"Nothing," he said, concentrating hard on a design on the tablecloth. "Well, actually there is. There was a reason I asked you alone here tonight."

He looked up at her from behind his round glasses.

"Yes, Harry?" she pressed the conversation.

"It's, hard to say," Harry said. "I've been having some, well, strange feelings lately. And I can understand if you don't feel the same way."

"W-what are you talking about, Harry?" she asked nervously.

He stared into her eyes, and she into his, and for a moment neither of them spoke.

"I've missed you terribly these past few years, Hermione," Harry said. "I'm not sure how to say this, so I'll just spill it."

He moved closer to her, taking her hand in his. "I love you, Hermione."

She responded by kissing him hard on the mouth; she'd done it before she could stop herself. Stop! Stop! Stop! yelled an angry voice in her head but she ignored it. She completely forgot all of her common sense and allowed herself to be engulfed in Harry's kisses. She wrapped her arms around his neck and it wasn't until someone cleared their throat that they broke apart.

"You're food, Madame."

And that was how Hermione made her second big mistake.

Hermione was trapped, stuck between her two loves. There was Ron, the cheerful, silly, outgoing one and Harry, the caring, defensive, adorable one. It was like trying to choose a life, how she wanted to live. One night she would be with Harry, the next with Ron. It went on like that for over a year, and neither of the young men was aware of the situation. All the while Hermione became more and more worried, oblivious to the danger of what she was doing. She was playing around with the emotions of two men. And then, one night, it all came crashing down. Harry had taken her into his bedroom, sat her down and proposed to her. To his horror, she had broken down in tears and thrown herself on the floor, begging for forgiveness. She told him everything, about how she had been seeing Ron as well and how they had slept together that night after graduation. Everything came flooding out of her like a dam that had burst. When she had finished, Harry had merely stood up, showing no emotion on his face, and walked out of the room, and walked out of her life. She stayed at home for days after that, smothered by her own grief. Nearly a week after she had confessed to Harry, she came to the inevitable conclusion that she must tell Ron as well.

Ron's reaction was similar to Harry's. He merely stared at her, not saying a single word. She begged on hand and knee for him to forgive her, but he too had just stood up and left her.

Hermione heard from neither Ron nor Harry for months. Each night she would sit home and grieve for them, asking herself how she could have been so stupid. Her quality of work began to slip and she was often late getting there. When she arrived late for the fourth time in one week, the Ministry had fired her. But she really didn't care. She was too busy thinking about Ron and Harry, and how much she wished she could see them again.

That very night, she got her wish.

When she got home, she found Harry and Ron both standing in her den waiting for her. She was struck with a mixture of shock and joy, hoping that they were there to comfort her, but neither of them was there to offer consolation.

***

Now Hermione lay on the ground before the two men she loved, and they were showing her no mercy.

"Choose," they ordered her.

She sobbed harder. "I...I...can't!"

"You must, Hermione," Harry said firmly. "You pick one of us or neither of us."

She covered her head with her hands. "I don't want to choose. I love you both more than I can say, and I can't bear to reject either of you!"

"Does that mean you choose neither of us?" Ron demanded.

"No!" she cried. "I could never be with anybody but one of you. I just can choose!"

Ron sighed. "Very well then. It looks like there's only one way to settle this."

He turned to face Harry. "Ready?"

Harry nodded. They both drew their wands from their pockets.

"NO!" Hermione shouted trying to grab the wands away from them. "Please don't do this!"

"Not to worry," Ron said. "This is not a test of the most powerful wizard."

He gave a nod to Harry and they both cast their wands aside.

"It's a test of the most powerful man."

Hermione gaped at them, tears still streaming down her cheeks.

Ron turned to Harry and began to count. At the sound of "three", they lunged at eachother, and began fighting like wild animals.

"STOP! STOP!" Hermione yelled at them and tried to pull them apart, but it was no use. They began to pound the life out of eachother and Hermione could only scream with horror.

"I can't take this anymore!" she cried and pointed her wand on the brawling pair, blasting them apart.

They both glared at her, bruised, cut, and bleeding all over.

"I CAN'T TAKE IT!" she screamed. "I WILL NOT LET YOU FIGHT OVER ME! YOU TWO ARE BEST FRIENDS AND I WILL NOT RUIN THAT! THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO END THIS!"

She turned her wand to point it at her own heart.

"GOODBYE, MY LOVES!"

Then she cried out loud and clear, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

There was a flash of green light, nearly blinding Harry and Ron and knocking them off their feet. The ground began to shake and the whole house rattled. And then...it stopped.

Hermione's body fell to the floor.

"NOOOOOO!!" Harry and Ron yelled at the same time. They both crawled over to Hermione's limp form and each grabbed one of her hands. They looked to see that her eyes were open, but they were dark and vacant. Hermione Granger was dead.

Ron threw himself on her body and cried into her chest, which no longer thumped with the beating of her heart. Harry buried his face in his hands and laid down next to them.

"DAMN US BOTH!" he roared. "LOOK WHAT WE'VE DONE! WE'VE KILLED HER!"

Ron looked up at him, his eyes bloodshot.

"I'm sorry, Harry," he said. "I shouldn't have been so stubborn. This wasn't your fault. It was mine."

"Don't be thick, Ron." Harry snapped. "You know it was all me. It's always the ones I love who die! I might as well kill myself to save people the pain!"

"Don't say that, Harry!" Ron barked. "Do you know how many people you've saved over the years? How much evil you have conquered? If it weren't for you, we'd have all been dead long ago!"

Harry shook his head.

"Look, Harry," said Ron. "There's nothing you could have done. We shouldn't have been fighting over our best friend anyway!"

Harry sniffed and nodded.

Ron turned to look at Hermione's dead body, tears welling in his eyes.

"I'm sorry Hermione," he said. "I love you."

He kissed her icy cold lips.

Harry bent over and did the same, holding her hand while he did so. He then stood up and helped Ron. They stood, face to face for a long time, before hugging eachother in a warm embrace.

"I'm sorry too," said Harry.

Neither Ron nor Harry ever fell in love again, for fear of another terrible tragedy. However, the spirit of Hermione lingered in them forever, and they remained close friends until their deaths.