CHAPTER TWO
THE CALL
***RON***
There was a snooty, blonde-haired Muggle woman taking up the pay phone Ron wanted to use. She had been on it gabbing for the past twenty minutes.
“Oh, my god! OH, MY GOD, are you serious? No way! No bloody way!” she squealed for the millionth time. Ron was losing his patience. Without even thinking about it, he reached into his coat, poked the tip of his wand out of the coat and magically cut the call.
“Hello? Hello? Becky? Becky, are you there? Becky?” Miss Blonde pulled out another coin and put it in the phone. It wouldn’t work. Ron had to physically keep himself from smiling. She swore nastily, turned on her heel, and stormed away.
“Finally,” Ron muttered under his breath. Remembering his required course of Muggle Studies at Richmond’s, he listened for a dial tone, inserted his coin, and punched in the phone number to Hermione’s parents’ house.
It rang. No answer.
It rang again. Still no answer.
It rang once more. Ron’s heart quickened as he heard a faint click and a woman’s voice say, “Hello. Granger residence, Norma speaking.”
He breathed a sigh of relief. It was Hermione’s mum. At least he had gotten the number right.
“Yes, erm, hello, is Hermione there?” he asked hesitantly. “My name is Ron Weasley. We went to Hogwarts together.”
The tone of Norma’s voice told Ron that she was smiling. “Why, yes she is, Ron. She’ll be so excited that you called. Hold on just a minute, and I’ll put her on for you.” There a swishy noise as she pressed the receiver to her blouse. Ron could hear a muffled voice call, “HERMIONE! PICK UP! PHONE FOR YOU!”
“Who is it, Mum? I’m really busy!” cried an even more muffled voice. It was far away; that much was certain, but it made Ron’s palms sweat just the same. It was Hermione.
***HERMIONE***
Hermione brushed a lock of her dark brown hair out of her eyes and sighed. She was sprawled out on her stomach doing some of her holiday homework. Some things never change, she thought to herself.
“Who is it, Mum? I’m really busy!” she called back, not wanting to talk to whoever it was on the line.
“It’s Ron, honey! Ron Weasley! On the telephone!” her mum called back, an excited tone to her voice.
Hermione’s heart jumped into her throat, and her stomach did a little tumble thing. You know, like when you first get off of a roller coaster. Your stomach is all out of sorts, and your knees are weak, but you’re laughing your head off, begging to go again. This was how she felt at the mention of Ron Weasley’s name.
“Mum, really, don’t mess with me! Who is it?” she called back, certain that her mum was pulling her leg. Reluctantly, Hermione had told her mother about her feelings for her friend a few years ago. Her mum was probably just teasing her.
“Hermione, sweetie, I’m serious! Ron wants to talk to you!” called the voice of her mum. She drew in a sharp breath. It was true. Ron had called her. After three years of absolutely no contact, he was calling her at home! And on the TELEPNONE, no less!
“Ok-Okay, Mum! I got it up here!” Hermione rolled off her bed and picked up the receiver of her purple phone that she kept on her dresser. With a second thought, she put the receiver in the crook of her neck and cried to her mum, “Hang up, Mum! I’ve got it!” Her palms sweating, she put the receiver to her ear and said tentatively, “Hello?”
***RON***
“Hello?”
Ron swallowed quickly and said shakily, “Hey, Hermione! It’s Ron! Long time no see, eh?”
“Omigosh, Ron, hey! Wow, how are you? God, I haven’t talked to you in ages!” exclaimed the voice of Hermione happily. Oh, he loved the sound of her voice. He could listen to it for hours, forever.
“I know. Uh, so, how are you?” he managed to ask.
“Fair. Becoming a Muggle Liaison is a lot more complicated than it sounded in the brochure. It’s a good thing I know my Muggle Studies. I definitely need them, you know?” she chuckled lightly. Oh, he loved that laugh. That casual laugh that had had so many boys at Hogwarts secretly writing “I Love H.G.” on the inside covers of all of their notebooks. “How ‘bout you? How’s Auror school treating you? I heard both you and Harry are going to Richmond’s Academy. Good school,” she continued.
“Oh, it’s going fine. A lot harder than I thought it was going to be, though. Harry and I have loads of homework every night. He’s doing better at it than I am, though. Which is really surprising, because not only does he have homework to work on, but he also has to find time to take Ginny out on the weekends,” Ron said. It felt so good to be able to talk to her again, just like old times.
“Ginny? Really? Well, it’s about bloody time, if I do say,” said Hermione, now laughing whole-heartedly. Ron laughed, too.
“Yeah. It did take a while. But now that he’s with her, I give it…hmmm…about two months tops before he proposes to her,” he said playfully. She laughed.
“I can’t wait.” There was a pause for moment, and then Hermione said, “So, Ron, was there something you wanted? I mean, I really enjoy just talking to you, but, not to sound rude or anything, but I’m really busy here, so if there’s nothing in particular you wanted, I might have to call you back later when I’m finished with what I have to do now.” Right, Ron thought. Gotta get down to business. You can get reacquainted later.
“Well, yeah, there was, but I can wait if you’re too busy,” he babbled, not wanting to bother her.
“Oh, no, no. It’s fine. Really. What’d you want?” she insisted.
“Well, erm, my parents are going to visit Bill for Christmas, and Harry’s not home; he went to go stay with Ginny for Christmas, and…well, I’m, erm, all alone here, so I was wondering, maybe, if you didn’t have any other plans, if we could, I dunno, maybe get together some time. You know, just to get caught up and stuff. Thought it might…be nice.” Ron held his breath for her response. 'Please, please, please say yes!'
***HERMIONE***
Hermione blinked several times in surprise. Ron Weasley, the man she had loved since the very first time he had smiled at her, was all alone three days before Christmas Eve, with his family away and his roommate gone, and he could think of no other person better to spend Christmas with than her. She was touched.
“I mean…I understand if…you don’t want to or if you already have plans…” she heard Ron mumble through the phone. Hermione realized that she had taken too long to answer. Now he thought she didn’t want to come. She quickly cut him off.
“Oh, no. No, I’d…I’d love to come. You just…surprised me, that’s all. Of course I’ll come visit you for Christmas, Ron,” she said quickly. Her answer was greeted by a long pause.
“Really? You want to come?” he said after a while. Hermione smiled even though she knew he couldn’t see her.
“Yes, I do. Um, I need your address, though. So that I know where to Apparate to, you know,” she said, grabbing her notebook off of her bed and picking up a Muggle pen from her desk.
“Oh. Right. It’s, um, just a little house. Really little, actually. We could probably go somewhere else if you wanted,” Ron mumbled. Hermione could almost picture the Weasley embarrassment trademark, reddened ears, forming on him as he spoke to her. The thought made her heart flutter.
“Ron, it’s fine. I don’t mind. At least you have a house of your own. I board at my Liaison school, so I never really have the need for it. I only come home over holidays, so what’s the point? Just give me your address, and I’ll come over Christmas Eve. How’s that sound?” she insisted. She didn’t want Ron to be embarrassed by how small his house was. Money, or his lack of it, always had embarrassed him. But it really didn’t bother her.
“Oh, I dunno. Maybe we ought to do something else. Like…meet for dinner or something somewhere…” he dismissed.
“Ron,” Hermione said gently. “It’s all right. Honest. I don’t mind at all. No matter if you lived in a mansion or a run-down shack, I would still come and visit you for Christmas. As long as you’ll be there, I’ll be there. Okay?” There was a pause as Ron let Hermione’s words sink in.
“Oh, well…Okay, I guess. If you’re sure you don’t mind,” Ron said after a long period of time. Hermione’s grin widened.
“Just give me your address, Ron,” she said, feigning impatience.
“All right. Here goes. Number 7 Wiltshire Road, Godric’s Hollow. Got it?” She finished copying this down and answered yes.
“Okay, so I guess I’ll see you then. All right?” she said, anxious to get off the phone. She needed to do something, anything, to vent the excitement building up inside of her. “Okay. See you, Hermione.” His voice was shaky, as if he were feeling the exact same thing as her.
“Bye,” she said quickly. She hit the “End” button on the receiver of her telephone. Hastily, she put it back in the phone cradle, threw herself onto her bed, buried her face in a pillow, and let herself scream. She did this rather often. Her mum had taught her how when she was really little and threw temper tantrums. She called it an “emotional outlet”. Her emotion right now was excitement. Uncontrollable excitement.
***RON***
Ron hung up the phone with shaking hands. He wasn’t shaking with nervousness anymore. He was shaking with excitement.
Slowly, he backed away from the pay phone. He closed his eyes and let his emotions fill him.
“YES!” he cried out loud. Several Muggles looked at him strangely, but he didn’t care. Hermione was coming for Christmas, and he didn’t give a damn who knew it!
Author’s Note: REMEMBER TO REVIEW! OR YE SHALL FEEL
MY WRATH! MWAH HA HA HA HA HA HA! Sorry.
Feeling a bit evil today. LOL!