I Meant That

Hermione hugged her knees to her chest, looking out at the grounds of the school that had been her second home for the past seven years. She would be graduating in less than a month, she knew. Being Hermione, she had her future planned to a pinpoint.

She could see her classmates below, at the lake party in honor of their graduation. Hermione sighed, gazing upon the ant-sized figures of her friends from the Astronomy Tower. She could see Luna dancing with Harry and she smiled. They looked so good together; so happy. Hermione wished she had that. But no one cared about bushy-haired book worms who never broke the rules. She smiled inwardly. Actually, she had broken a considerable amount of rules since staring at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In her first year, she had lied to a teacher to get her friends out of trouble, and then helped said friends to break several spells on the Philosopher's Stone. In her second year, she had helped Ron and Harry open the Chamber of Secrets, to save Ron's sister. In her third year, she and her friends had hidden an escaped murderer and helped a supposedly dangerous hippogriff escape a messy death. In her fourth year, she had helped Harry with the Triwizard Tournament. In fifth year, she had gone with Ron, Harry, and the rest of the DA to the Department of Mysteries, where they smashed a prophecy, battled several death eaters, and were nearly responsible for the blessed arrest of Lord Voldemort. In sixth year, Hermione had been a part of the invasion of Malfoy Manor, where Voldemort was almost caught yet again. And then there was this year, when Harry had finally destroyed Voldemort, proposed to Luna, and had finally gotten a chance to live a normal life.

So where did that leave her?

Hermione heard the faint click of the door behind her. She turned to see Ron Weasley on top of the tower.

"Hi, Hermione," he said. "Can I join you?"

"Be my guest," she said softly.

He sat down on the stone bench next to her. "Why are you up here anyway?"

"Just thinking," Hermione replied.

"About what?"

"Loads of things," said Hermione nervously. "I used to be so sure of myself, you know. Now I'm so worried to leave here. I mean, what if I'm not succesful?"

"You will be," Ron assured her gently.

"Thanks."

"Anyway, you're missing a lot," Ron said enthusiastically. "Luna is teaching us a muggle game she learned called 'Seven Minutes in Heaven'. Basically you get be in a closet and snog some random person senseless."

Hermione scoffed. "That's so immature! And I suppose you and Harry joined in?"

"Well," said Ron thoughtfully. "Harry went with Luna. But I came up here to see if you were okay."

The girl's look softened. "Thank you. How did you know I was here?"

"Process of elimination."

"You were watching me from down there, weren't you?"

"Yep," he said, smiling.

"You are so insufferable!" Hermione laughed.

"Hm," Ron said. "Do you want to go back to the party?"

"Not particularly," she admitted. "The idea of being locked in a closet with someone I don't know or don't like isn't very appealing to me now."

Ron laughed. "Why?"

"I only kiss someone when I really mean it."

"Oh," he said.

They sat for some time in a comfortable silence, and then Ron got up. "I'm going to go back to Gryffindor tower. Don't stay up too late, Hermione."

"I wont. Good night, Ron."

Ron turned suddenly. "And by the way..."

He crossed the clearing and kissed Hermione softly.

Ron moved back from her slowly, looking into her eyes.

"I meant that," he said, before turning and snapping the door shut behind him, leaving a very shocked and pleased Hermione alone.

-Fin-