Disclaimer: All the characters and what not belong to J.K. Rowling, and I’m in no way intending to profit from their usage.

Disclaimer: The lyrics belong to the song “Right Here” from Staind. They own the lyrics, and so, yeah, I’m not trying to claim that I did, nor am I trying to make a buck off of them.

Right Here

Well, that could’ve been worse, Harry thought to himself gloomily. It had been the moment he had dreaded since the day after Dumbledore’s funeral. The day when it really sunk in that he wasn’t going on his hunt right away. The day when the implications of attending Bill and Fleur’s wedding fully hit him. The day when he realized that he had chosen the worst possible time to break up with Ginny. The day when he realized he would have to see her again at least once more before he had to go.

And he hated every last second leading up to the moment he knew would come. That moment when he knew they would have to have “the talk”. Horrors filled his head in both dreams and thoughts. Images of Ginny slapping him in the middle of the entire wedding party plagued him at inopportune times during the day, while her voice shrieking how much she hated him was the last thing he heard before drifting off into an uneasy sleep every night.

But finally it was over. When they had both had their say, there were no tears, though it was obvious that both Harry and Ginny had to fight very hard to make sure there weren’t, and things really were okay. And so, as the moment passed, they continued to stand close to each other, holding hands. The two tucked away in a secluded spot away from the festivities that took place in the aftermath of the wedding, Harry idly wondered if they would meet up again later that night, or if this was to be the last time they would be this close for months, or even years. A slightly sick feeling hit his stomach when he wondered if this was the last time he would be this close to her forever.

In an attempt to clear his mind of the unwanted apprehension, Harry looked away from Ginny and out among the crowd that was talking and eating and laughing in celebration, praying for a distraction, any kind of distraction. And then he found it, or more specifically them. Two things caught his eye that he did not like one bit; so much so that he forgot to be grateful for the reprieve from his own troubles.

Looking back at the girl whose hand he still held tightly, he said in a soft voice, “Ginny, there’s something else I have to do before I go.”

Ginny looked out onto the crowd, and it didn’t take her nearly as long to find what Harry had seen, and with a concerned look on her face, she nodded and merely said in a low voice, “yes there is.”

She kissed him on the cheek, gave him a weak smile, and pushed him in the direction of the party underway.

**

Harry wasn’t as stunned this time to see Hermione looking absolutely gorgeous in her dress robes with her hair done up in such a way that would seem impossible given its normal, untamable state. After the Yule Ball in his fourth year, he understood that his best friend was more than capable of making herself look quite pretty.

He was a little more stunned, however, to find her dancing with Victor Krum. To be honest, he never knew that the Bulgarian seeker had even been invited to the party, which was probably for the best. He didn’t personally have any problems with the man, but he knew enough of the problems his presence might stir that he would have done anything in his power to lobby against his invitation.

The biggest problem, as he could plainly see, was seated not twenty feet before him, and Harry darkly noted to himself that it didn’t surprise him in the least. In fact, considering everything that happened in their fourth year and after, the look on Ron’s face wasn’t only expected; it was a requirement.

If he didn’t know better, Harry would have thought it impossible for a single face to show so much hate, particularly when the face in question was his best friend’s. There he sat, his new dress robes hanging off him dejectedly, his hands clutching furiously to the seat of his white chair, and his eyes looking as if they were themselves trying to curse Krum into oblivion.

Ron didn’t even seem to notice when Harry sat beside him.

“Fix it,” Harry said in a quiet but stern voice.

“Fix what?” growled Ron through gritted teeth.

“Come off it!” Harry snapped. “You know exactly what I mean. I’m not having you lot at each other’s throats while we’re out doing… doing what we have to do. So fix it, or neither of you are going!”

Ron turned his icy stare toward Harry and for a moment, Harry thought his best friend was going to attack him. But the red that had filled his face began to drain, and the glare began to sag, and Ron mumbled, “forget it,” rising as he did so to walk away.

“No!” Harry barked in as harsh a voice as he could muster without drawing attention from possible onlookers. His hand caught Ron’s shoulder and spun him around so they were face to face. It scared him a little to notice how limp his friend was, how utterly defeated, but he didn’t take the time to dwell on that. Instead he grabbed the gangly teen by his lapels and pulled him close. “You fix this Ron. I mean it.”

At the act of aggression, Ron seemed to regain some of his fire, and a quick glance at Hermione and Victor dancing appeared to give him the rest of it. The glare returned, and didn’t even waver when Ron looked again at Harry, but instead of storming off or plopping down, he merely nodded as Harry let go of his lapels.

For a moment, Harry still entertained the thought that Ron may just make a run for it, but instead of heading away from the dance floor, he made his way towards it. No, he stalked towards it, stopping right at its edge, and waiting for the music to stop.

As both boys stood, waiting for the dance to end, Harry caught a whiff of a flowery scent, and waited for whatever Ginny had to say.

“Think it’ll work?” she asked tentatively.

“Anymore, I don’t care. I’m just not going to have them bickering the whole time. I don’t care if they don’t speak to each other, or if they spend the entire time snogging their brains out. But if they are coming with me, they are not going to be fighting the whole time.”

He chanced a look at her, and she nodded. Almost as though that were the cue, the music stopped, and both Harry and Ginny snapped their attention to the dance floor. Victor bowed low to Hermione, and kissed her hand. Hermione smiled coyly, or at least what passed for coyly when it came to Hermione. It had looked like Victor was going to lead her off the dance floor, but then Hermione noticed Ron for the first time, and it was as if Victor ceased to even exist to her.

Hermione wasn’t the only one that noticed Ron. It seemed half the crowd saw the dangerous look on his face, as well as the band for couples began exiting the dance floor as though there was something else they would rather do than dance, and the band looked almost terrified to start up another song.

Hermione met Ron’s glare with a look of anxiety mixed with mortification mixed with abject fear. Harry was beginning to think this may not be the best of ideas, and started to move but a small hand grabbed his wrist. Looking back at Ginny, she wore a grave look on her face as she whispered, “they need this.”

Ron stepped onto the dance floor as Hermione worried a fold in her dress robes. By now the entire floor had cleared, and yet no one wandered too far, drawn by the sheer intensity of the air between the last couple on the floor.

It had seemed, for just a second, that everything was frozen in place, and Harry had begun to think that they had all been placed under some sort of freezing spell, but then Ron spoke.

“Thought you’d get one last taste of Vicky before we went out to go risk our necks, eh?” he growled cruelly. “Who knows Hermione, maybe you’ll get lucky, yeah? Get a little bit of…”

But before Ron could finish the jab, Hermione cut him off in tempestuous rage, “YOU DO NOT GET TO BRING UP VICTOR! NOT AFTER LAVENDER!” The mere effort of her yells had loosed some of her curls from her carefully styled hair. “Not after that Ron! My relationship with Victor is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! And even if it were, at least I keep that PRIVATE! Not like you two trying to advertise to the entire world just exactly how far you can stick your tongue down each other’s throats!”

“Oh no! No no no NO NO! That’s over, and you know it! We’re not talking about Lavender! You don’t see her here do you? It’s done! It’s over! It was a mistake, and YOU KNOW IT! So she doesn’t come up again! Do. You. Understand?”

“So it’s perfectly fine to act absolutely horrible about Victor but Lavender is out of bounds? You… You… Hypocrite! This is so typical of you Ron!” By now Hermione’s face was nearly as red as Ron’s, and Harry could notice her eyes starting to shine with threatening tears. This was a mistake, he thought, I shouldn’t have done this. But that same small hand continued to hold him back.

“That’s right,” Ron seethed. “Typical Ron. Stupid, insensitive typical Ron. Idiot Ron that can’t seem to get his homework done, right Hermione? Typical Ron in his typical too short clothes, and his too many … GAH! Is that all I am to you? Huh? No talent, no brains, THIRD WHEEL RON! Can’t play Quidditch, definitely not enough to be some international star. Don’t have any money, so I don’t wear nice things. Don’t have that brilliant brain of yours so things take longer to come to me!” As he ranted, Ron paced, shoulders hunched, eyes not leaving Hermione for a second. “IS THAT ALL I AM TO YOU? HAVE NOTHING, KNOW NOTHING, WORTH NOTHING RON?” he roared at her, and she flinched.

“Of course not!” she shot back as hard as she could. Her eyes were blazing, but Harry noticed her chin beginning to tremble.

I know I’ve been mistaken
But just give me a break and see the changes that I’ve made.
I’ve got some imperfections,
But how can you collect them all and throw them in my face

“Then why does it FEEL like it?” he bellowed back at her, stopping his route long enough to wait for an answer.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, her voice betraying a pleading note within it. “I would never!”

“You would never, my arse,” Ron scoffed.

“I WOULDN’T! How in the world could you think I see you like that? TELL ME!” Her voice rang out in high-pitched tones of rage and bewilderment as tears fell freely from Hermione’s eyes. Her hair was now nearly completely undone as she shouted back at the surly Ron before her.

“Tell you?” Ron came back in a dangerously low voice. “Tell you? Fine. How about the way you thought it would take a swig of Felix for me to be able to be half decent at Quidditch? How about schoolwork, Hermione? How about every time you made me beg for your help and how you rolled your eyes when you finally did, as though looking at some silly paper was above you? How about every single spell that you just weren’t patient enough for me to get right the very first time? Or remember the Basilisk? Bloody hell, all I wanted to do was save you, but no, I couldn’t. You were petrified for Merlin’s sake, and you still had to show me up! How about OUR VERY FIRST CONVERSATION?!” He continued his voice now a lion’s roar, his finger jabbing accusingly at Hermione, paying little attention to how she winced at each point despite the lack of actual touch. “YOU LET ME KNOW FROM THE VERY MOMENT WE MET THAT I WAS BENEATH YOU AND YOU HAVEN’T CHANGED THAT OPINION IN SIX YEARS! NOT ONCE!”

“BOLLOCKS!” she screamed back at him before continuing on in only a slightly lesser volume. “Why are you doing this Ron? Why? You know very well that I don’t think you’re beneath me! I mean some of those things… God Ron, you’re putting words in my mouth… I never said you couldn’t play quidditch, for pity’s sake! So why? Why do you insist on saying I said things when I never said them, or taking them the wrong way?

I hope you’re not intending,
To be so condescending, it’s as much as I can take.
You’re so independent,
You just refuse to bend so I keep bending till I break!

“BECAUSE I LOVE YOU, DAMMIT!” Ron roared, and Hermione looked as though he had just slapped her in the face. Harry could hear Ginny gasp as her grip on his wrist tightened. In fact, Harry noticed, everyone in the crowd seemed to have some sort of reaction to Ron’s pronouncement; a gasp here, a wince there. Mrs. Weasley herself had to stifle a sob. Everyone seemed to notice except Ron himself who was still staring murderously at Hermione, his shoulders rising and falling with great heaving breaths.

“For six years, Hermione. SIX! I’ve never even THOUGHT to feel about anyone else the way I’ve felt about YOU! I WOULD BLOODY WELL DIE FOR YOU! And I’d do it happily.” As Ron spoke, Harry could feel Ginny’s thumb slowly begin to rub up and down on the joint of his wrist. He knew what she was trying to tell him, and it took every single ounce of strength within him not to look at her just then.

“So yeah!” Ron admitted. “Maybe I lied. Maybe I lied to myself. Because for six bloody years the only thing I ever needed was you! I knew you couldn’t love me, who could? So I lied to myself. I know it. But I couldn’t… I COULDN’T LET MYSELF GET FOOLED INTO THINKING YOU FELT THE SAME WAY ABOUT ME!”

I’ve made a commitment,
I’m willing to bleed for you.
I needed fulfillment
I found what I need in you

“Right here!” Hermione whispered harshly.

“Wha…?”

“RIGHT BLOODY HERE!” Hermione yelled. “I’ve been right here, waiting for you for six years. Waiting for something, anything from you.” As she said this, Harry noticed the ferocity in Ron’s face begin to ease a little.

“I never kissed Victor” she said indignantly. “God, I couldn’t kiss him if I were waiting for you all this time. Right here Ron. Right in front of you. Waiting! Huh!” she scoffed. “First year. The dirt on your nose? All I wanted, Ronald, was an excuse to talk to you one more time on that stupid train! Second year. Do you know what it took for me not to jump into your arms and kiss you after I was cured? But I was so scared. Third year. I was petrified as it began to look like you would never say another nice thing to me again because of our stupid pets of all things. And then, when we finally got through that, I only had a few moments before I thought I was going to lose you for good when Sirius took you. Fourth..”

“But…”

“Fourth Year!” Hermione snapped, cutting Ron off. “All I wanted was for you to ask me to the ball. I would go to bed every single night thinking to myself that maybe tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow you would ask me. And that never came, and then Victor asked me, and I said yes! And I’m such a fool because even with as terrible as you were when you finally did ask me, if Victor hadn’t asked me first I would have gone along with you happily. I’m even more the fool because even now I wished I’d stood him up to go with you. Instead I went to that dance thinking the whole time how wonderful if it were your arms wrapped around me instead of his."

“Fifth Year! I knew by then you weren’t ever going to see me as more than a best friend, and so I kissed you. Do you even remember? I kissed you good-bye, on the cheek, it wasn’t much, but it meant everything to me. Do you know that? I thought I would finally be able to face facts and just let you go, but then we went to the Ministry, and the only reason why I wasn’t scared was because YOU were there! I cared for you so much, Ronald, that I didn’t even think to worry about my own safety.”

Hermione’s words had seemed to tame Ron as they came out in hoarse high-pitched litany. Her own face had long ago dropped any vestiges of anger, replaced only by a painful sorrow, but as she took a deep breath, her eyes darkened, her cheeks flushed, and when she spoke again her pleas had turned into hysterical roars.

“SIXTH YEAR!” she spat and Ron noticeably flinched. “I knew I couldn’t give up, and I tried, trust me I really did! And then…” the rest of her sentence was swallowed into a loud, painful sob. “YOU KILLED ME! That night! When I saw you with her! YOU RIPPED ME IN TWO THAT NIGHT, RONALD! So I’m sorry! Okay? I’m sorry for not… I don’t even know, but I’m sorry. But…”

In the split second before Hermione finished her sentence, Harry felt as though his stomach had just been filled with something cold and heavy. Her eyes narrowed, and her jaw clenched, and Hermione said, “… I will not apologize for you being so great of a stupid prat to not see that I’ve been right here waiting for you the whole time. I have been, and I always will.”

Why can’t you just forgive me?
I don’t want to relive all the mistakes
I’ve made along the way.

Harry closed his eyes and grimaced. When he opened them again, the somber look Ron’s face adopted had been replaced with one of complete ire.

“Fine,” he said. “Keep waiting.” Ron had turned his back on her and marched off the dance floor. One of the white chairs that stood in his path was absolutely destroyed as he picked it up and slammed it back down onto the ground. Hermione buried her tear-streaked face in her hands.

And then she said something. It was so quiet it couldn’t have been more than a whisper, and yet the utter pain and despair in those two words had echoed throughout the entire party, and, as Harry thought, maybe even over to the next town. He had never heard anything remotely like that come from his friend, and the mere sound of it caused a burning, stinging sensation to rise up at the corners of his eyes.

“I will.”

But I always find a way

Ron froze. Those two words had completely wiped all the anger and hatred from his face.

To keep you right here waiting

He turned towards her and tears were racing down his cheek leaving slick tracks down his reddened face.

I always find the words to say

Hermione’s eyes peeked out above her fingertips, and when she saw Ron had not gone away, they fell limp at her sides.

To keep you right here waiting.

In the amount of time it took for Hermione’s eyes to grow as wide as saucers, Ron had covered the distance between them in a few long strides, and without preamble, without looking around to see who might be watching, without hesitation, he lifted her in his arms so they were face to face, and he kissed her.

But you always find a way
To keep me right here waiting
You always find the words to say
To keep me right here waiting

**

The scene that played out before Harry had almost made him forget that Ginny’s hand was wrapped around his wrist. But as he watched his two best friends kissing on the dance floor, he was instantly reminded of her hand when she drew it away. Covering her mouth, Ginny’s eyes crinkled into an impossible smile and she began to squeal.

Not long after, the rest of the guests too began to show their support. Fred catcalled while George yelled at them that they were in public. Mrs. Weasley had broken down into noisy sobs. Bill wrapped his arms around his new wife and squeezed her as he smiled warmly at the couple.

Harry was just beginning to miss the presence of Ginny’s hand around his wrist when he felt her fingers interlock with his. “Come on, let’s go,” she beckoned, tugging him in the direction of the dance floor.

As they neared, Harry began to blush, not because of Ginny, but because Ron and Hermione continued to kiss despite all the cheering and whooping. In fact, the noises only seemed to intensify the two.

“I’m embarrassed for them,” Harry whispered to Ginny. “Think this was what it was like during our first kiss?”

Ginny shot him a warning look before returning her attention to the couple and saying, “OI! You two, some of us would like to have a dance without worrying about just how much of a show we’re going to get.”

Ron and Hermione separated immediately. It was as though they realized they weren’t alone for the first time. Ron’s face went from crimson to a violent shade of purple as Hermione found herself incredibly fascinated with just how far off the ground she was. Finally they both looked stupidly at Harry and Ginny, each giving a very sheepish, if not a little guilty, grin.

Ginny’s eyes sought out the band-leader, and on finding him, she yelled, “you can start playing again!”

As the music began, Harry leaned towards Ron and whispered, “I think now is when you ask her to dance.”

**

Holding Ginny in his arms as the music played, Harry looked about the dance floor. Ron and Hermione were dancing, and whispering excitedly towards each other. Hermione’s hair had returned to it’s normal bushy form, but Harry couldn’t help notice that the smile she wore on her face had made her more beautiful than she had ever been before.

“I hope you’re not trying to clap an eye at my brother’s girlfriend, Harry,” Ginny teased him. “I like you quite a lot, but I’m very protective…”

Harry scowled at her, and she chuckled. “No,” he said, “it’s just nice to see them this happy.”

Ginny looked over at them and smiled. “Yeah. You’re going to have to remind me to thank Krum before he leaves.”

“What?” Harry asked, completely confused.

In way of reply, Ginny deepened her voice and said, “iv I cannot have her, ze least I could do is ‘elp ‘er get ze man zhe vants!”

Harry’s jaw dropped. His eyes scouted for Victor, and soon found him dancing with Gabrielle. Krum met his look, and the two nodded at each other. Maybe I will see Ginny again one more time before I go, Harry thought.

And then his gaze returned to his friends, and he couldn’t describe the warmth he felt as they alternated between kissing and whispering. Maybe, Harry continued to think, I won’t see her for months or years.

But, he thought as his eyes returned to the smiling girl before him, there is no way I’m not coming back at all. And then Harry did the one thing he promised himself he wouldn’t do on this day. He bent down and kissed her.

And if I chose to walk away
Would you be right here waiting
Searching for the things to say
To keep me right here waiting

Fin

A/N: I broke a lot of rules to write this one. I always promised myself that if I ever wrote a fanfic, I would never write a songfic. I also promised myself that I would never rewrite something JKR has already written, or will rewrite. But the song. I first heard it very shortly after I got to the kissing scene in HBP. In my mind the two fit together, and I always kind of imagined that kiss occurring right after the acoustic bridge. But as I thought more and more about it, while the sound may be right, the words are wrong. Not for Harry and Ginny. That’s when I realized that the song seems almost written for Ron and Hermione. And voila, here I am with this obsession to write a songfic. Hope you guys like it. First fanfic, but if the response is warm enough, it won’t be the last.