He felt the wind blowing. It was freezing cold, and he only had a thin jacket, no cap and no gloves on his hands.
He stuffed his hands in his pockets, pulled up the collar upon his ears and went further on.
Somewhere nearby he heard some people shouting at each other. He could hear that they were arguing.
He went on, down to the park where they had agreed to meet each other.
It was so long since they’d seen one another. The last time was at Hogwarts - at the end-of-term feast. Then they had started on different jobs - he as an Auror, she as a Ministry-worker. The last thing he had heard she was fighting for the House-elves’ rights. He guessed it was an organization, like SPEW.
Ron wondered how she looked like. At that time she had the brown bushy hair, but not the large front teeth. But still those brown eyes. The lovely deep brown eyes.
He came to the bench where he would meet her. He looked around, hoping that she was there soon. He felt sudden excitement.
When he got the owl from her, he had written back at once.
She had thought of him for a long time, and she wondered if they could see each other some time. She had so much to tell him. And I have much to tell her, too, he thought.
To this day, his feelings for her were still strong. But he hadn’t dared to tell her about his feelings. He knew that she dated someone in their last year, but she hadn’t told him who. He just knew that it wasn’t Harry. He had asked him in the dormitory one night, when they where alone. He had been so nervous for hearing a “Yes” from Harry.
When Harry laughed and said, “No, I wouldn’t do that to you, you know that?” a big stone fell down from his heart.
“No, I know, just had to be sure, you know,” he said, grinning.
Harry knew about his feelings then, but he hadn’t told Hermione about it.
“Thank God he didn’t,” muttered he to himself, and closed his eyes.
“Ron?” he heard behind him.
He opened his eyes. “Hermione?” he answered, turning around.
“Hi,” she said, and smiled warm to him. They embraced each other.
“How good it is to see you,” she whispered.
“You too,” he said, and strangely enough he felt a lump in his throat.
“How cold you are, Ron,” she said, and took his hands and blew at them. “Shall we go someplace, maybe? Take a cup of coffee? I know about a really good café nearby,” she said, looking up at him.
“Sure, it would be nice to get something warm,” he said as they began to walk.
“So, how’s life?” Hermione said when they had walked for a quarter or so.
Ron hesitated. What should he say?
Fred and George were earning money on their shop, Percy hadn’t been in touch for some years now, and his mother was always anxious about their family, since every member of it was a member of the Order.
“Well. I guess everything’s fine,” he answered.
She didn’t need to know about his family. Not yet. Maybe he could mention some of it when they took a cup of coffee.
“How are you? How’s your life?” Ron said.
He wanted to speak of something else. He wanted to know so much as possible about her.
How was her job? How was her family? Did she have a boyfriend?
“Well, at this time of the year, there’s much to do at work. Since it’s Christmas soon, you know. I’m working for the House-elf Organization, have you heard about it?” She said, looking at Ron.
“Erm-hmm…” Ron said. Actually, he’d never heard about it. “No, sorry, haven’t heard about it,” he admitted, feeling his cheeks grow a little bit warm.
He saw that Hermione got a little bit sad, so he added quickly, “But I would really hear about it!”
Hermione talked about the establishment of HEO, the House-Elf Organization, and about what they were working for and how many elves that where set free. Ron became more and more surprised; it was amazing how she had worked for the House-elves. He remembered her knitting the caps to the house-elves at Hogwarts; Harry told him later that the only one who cleaned the Common room, after the caps came, was Dobby, the House-elf Harry set free from the Malfoy-family.
“Well, here we are,” Hermione said, after she had told everything about HEO.
Ron opened the door, and said “Ladies first,” smiling.
She smiled back.
It was a cozy café, not to big, not to small. It wasn’t too much people there, and it was a good atmosphere. The walls were covered with different pictures of the city; someone was working, some children were playing with a ball, and someone was walking on a beach.
When he walked inside, the smell of coffee beans hit him like a door.
They could’ve opened a window, he thought.
He didn’t tell it to Hermione; he didn’t know if it would make her angry. He didn’t want to ruin the good feeling between them.
“What do you want to drink?” Hermione said.
“Erm . . . coffee?” Ron said.
He didn’t know what all the beverages were; he wasn’t used to Muggle cafés.
“Okay, coffee it is!” Hermione said, while Ron sat down on a chair.
Ron was beginning to get nervous. Why should I be nervous? he thought. Get a grip of yourself; it’s Hermione! But it was Hermione . . . the girl he was in love with, and his best friend . . . why was life so difficult?
“Here you go!” he heard someone say, and a big cup of coffee was sat down in front of him.
“The best coffee in the city!” Hermione said as she took a sip of her cup.
Ron took a deep swallow of his cup.
“Ouch!” he exclaimed, and sat the cup fast down.
“Careful!” Hermione said. “It’s hot, remember?”
She laughed, looking him in the eye.
“Forgot it...” Ron said, feeling his tongue burn a little.
“Ron?” Hermione asked. Ron glanced at her, before he took another sip of his coffee. “How’s Harry?”
“Harry’s fine,” Ron said. “The job’s taking a lot of his time, but he’s OK. I think so. He said that when I spoke to him yesterday.”
He saw it had started snowing.
“You’re still in touch?” Hermione said.
“Of course we are,” Ron said, surprised of Hermione’s question. “Have you heard something else?” Ron asked, with a suspicious tone.
“Well ... no, not exactly. I’ve just heard that you weren’t that good friends anymore...” She said, a hint of pink on her face
“Well, we’re still best friends, so if anyone asks you can tell them that,” Ron said.
“Yes, I will,” Hermione said, and drank some of the coffee.
Ron did the same. It wasn’t so warm anymore.
They drank up their cups in silence. Ron looked at Hermione, when she gazed out of the window.
She’s beautiful, he thought. So beautiful. Her hair, her nose, her eyes... She’s perfect.
He gazed at the snow outside.
“Shall we go?” he asked Hermione, smiling. “Go out in the snow?”
“Sure,” she answered, standing up.
Ron helped her with her coat, then pulled on his jacket. He opened the door again, to let her walk out.
“Thank you,” she said.
“What don’t you do for good friends,” he said, grinning.
They stood in the street. It was silent. Nobody was outside, and no one had walked in the snow.
“Your hair becomes white!” Ron said smiling. “You look like an old lady.”
The next thing he knew, he got snow in his neck.
“Hey!” he said, and started running after her. They ran down to the park where they met each other.
“I guess I deserved it,” Ron said, and took out some snow out of his jacket.
“Well… yeah,” Hermione said, grinning.
Ron sat down at the bench, next to her. They watched each other with locked eyes.
“I’ve had a really good time,” Hermione said, smiling at him
“Me too,” Ron responded.
“Well, I must go home,” she said.
“Yes, work tomorrow, I guess,” Ron said, and cleared his throat.
“We’ll meet each other soon, I hope?” Hermione said.
“Of course. Call me,” Ron said. “Yes, I can use the telephone now,” he added before Hermione could say something else.
“Yes, you even said it right,” Hermione said laughing.
Before they said good night, they hugged each other.
“Call me,” Ron whispered. He felt the lump again.
“Yes,” she whispered, and looked him deep in the eyes.
“Good night!” she said, waving to him as she left.
After Hermione'd gone, Ron looked down in the asphalt, now white of snow, sighing.
“I love you,” he muttered, and began to walk home.