“We all have big changes in our life that are more or less a second chance” “ Harrison Ford
Ron was not looking forward to Monday morning’s dance lesson. He felt mortified by what he had done. He couldn’t believe that he had been so stupid. Therefore he wasn’t surprised when Hermione turned up looking equally sheepish, with a large box in her arms.
“Morning,” she said, trying to act as if nothing had happened.
“Morning,” Ron mumbled. It was a mark of how embarrassed he felt that he didn’t protest when Hermione showed him his outfit for the Samba: an all-in-one lycra jumpsuit style thing, complete with thousands of sequins, ruffled chest and all in the most disgusting shade of violent yellow.
“No complaints?” Hermione said with a small smile. Ron merely shrugged.
“It won’t change anything,” he muttered. Hermione stared.
“The costume, I mean, it doesn’t matter if I don’t like it, I don’t really have a choice,” Ron hastened to explain. “In the costume,” he added lamely. Hermione was still looking at him, and didn’t take her eyes off him for a long time.
“I asked Alex to postpone the wedding,” she said finally, in little more than a whisper. Ron jerked his head up to look at her, open-mouthed. Did this mean…?
“Was that alright with him?” he asked, eyebrows raised.
“Well, he wasn’t happy about it, but he’s agreed. I said that it wasn’t his fault, but that I just had to straighten a few things out. I told him getting married is such a big deal, and I don’t want to rush into it. And when I say I’ve got to straighten a few things out, I guess what I really mean is,” she looked Ron steadily in the eye, “we’ve got to sort things out.”
Ron gulped.
“I’m sorry,” he said hurriedly. “I was just…” but Hermione shook her head.
“Like I said, it wasn’t your fault. Look, you remember that night when I came round to yours, and the blonde plastic girl came round for you?”
“Heavenly-Paige?” Ron said, nodding.
“If she was more plastic than skin, then yes, it was her,” Hermione replied, grinning. Ron muttered something along the lines of, “that doesn’t narrow it down.”
“Anyway,” Hermione continued. “Moving off the subject of your synthetic girlfriends’ assets, you remember how I told you that I’d liked you at school?”
“Of course you liked me at school, we were friends,” Ron said, puzzled. His memory wasn’t as good as Hermione’s and, although he remembered the conversation taking place, he wasn’t entirely sure of what had been said. This bit seemed to be the part he thought he’d dreamt.
“That I’d liked you in That Way,” Hermione said, irritated, flushing slightly. “Well, those feelings never really went away, no matter how much I tried to make them. Even though I’m with Alex, and I love Alex, I really do, I can’t stop thinking about you. And even though I don’t believe in fate,” she scoffed, and Ron recalled a rather frazzled teenage girl storming out of a Divination class in third year, “it seems too strange to be true that we’ve ended up together again like this. What do you think?”
“I guess…” Ron said slowly, wondering if this was going to be good news, or whether she was building up to let him down gently.
“Well,” Hermione pressed on, rather irritated at his lack of involvement in this conversation, “I’ve put off my wedding to decide what I really want to do. Because, at school, I never felt like I had a chance with you, not when everything was hectic with Harry and everything. And then, when I walked out, I thought I’d given up my chance of ever being with you. But now, you’re back in my life, and you’ve turned it on its head. And part of me can’t help feeling like this is my second chance, Ron,” she finished desperately. “Oh, say something!” she snapped, as he sat there musing in silence.
“What if this was your second chance?” he asked her, finally. “You know how I feel. I understand what you’re saying, and I know that your situation’s difficult, but something will have to be done about it sometime, and you are the one who is going to have to make the choice, Hermione. I can’t do it for you.”
“I know that,” Hermione sighed.
“What would you do if you decided that this was your second chance?” Ron asked her. She thought for a very long time.
“If I knew, properly knew, that this thing with you was for real, and that it wouldn’t slip away from me again, and if, somewhere inside me, I knew that I feel more for you than Alex, then I couldn’t go through with the wedding, and I would have to leave Alex.”
“And if you felt more for Alex than me?” Ron asked quietly. She glanced away. He knew what the answer would have been.
“There’s something inside me, telling me what I should do, but I can’t understand it,” Hermione said, crossly. Ron grinned wryly.
“That’s your heart, Hermione,” he told her. “You’re too used to thinking with your head, that you’ve never bothered to listen to your heart. Now me, I don’t have that problem,” he said proudly, tapping himself on the forehead. Hermione snorted.
“That’s because you never think with your head, Ron Weasley,” she said, smacking his arm.
“What a pair we are,” Ron said, laying back on the floor. Hermione lay down next to him. There was a pause.
“How exactly does one listen to one’s heart?” Hermione asked.
* * *
“Will we be expected to dance?” Ron shouted to Hermione, as they entered Harry and Ginny’s house, greeted by loud music.
“Yes, Ron, it’s part of the job description of being a dancer,” Hermione called back. “Always be prepared to be forced to dance at any party.”
And sure enough, within minutes Ginny had dragged them up to the dancefloor in the middle of the lounge, where all the furniture had been stacked against the walls.
“At least you won’t make a fool of yourself dancing now you’ve had some training,” Hermione muttered to Ron, as they whirled around to whoops and clapping.
“What do you mean?!” Ron replied, indignantly. “I’ve never made a fool of myself dancing!”
“First lesson with me seems to contradict that statement,” Hermione told him, grinning wickedly.
“Now that is just unfair!” Ron protested. “I’m sure you were rubbish in your first lesson!”
“Ron, I was five in my first lesson, and I danced better than you did,” Hermione teased him.
“How dare you,” Ron replied, shaking his head. “The nerve of it…”
The song finished and so did Ron and Hermione, who attempted to make their way back into the crowd and out of the limelight. As they did so, however, a slow, romantic song came on. Ron groaned, as all the people around them paired up, completely blocking their way to a table to sit down.
“Excuse me, look could you just, fine, get in the way, now really!”
“Ron, stop making a fuss,” Hermione muttered to him. “Come on, we’ll dance this one, then we might be able to get out.”
Reluctantly, Ron put his arms around Hermione’s waist while she slipped hers over his shoulders. Ron felt distinctly awkward, but Hermione seemed to be enjoying herself.
“You know,” she said, “I’ve been thinking about what you said. About listening to my heart. And you’re right. The subjects I’ve always failed in: flying, Divination, have all been stuff that you just can’t learn out of a book. And, much to my disappointment, you can’t learn about love in a textbook.”
“Did you try?” Ron asked, grinning.
“No!” Hermione replied defensively. “Well, ok, just once. Completely useless it was too. But there is no book anywhere that tells a girl what to do when she loves two guys. Or rather, when two guys love her.”
“So what has your heart been telling you?” Ron asked her.
“It’s been telling me all sorts of things that I never knew before,” Hermione explained. “I love you because you love me for me. I love the way your hair is never tidy. I love the way you’re prepared to listen to me.”
“Yeah well, Harry would do all those things too,” Ron said coyly, wanting to hear more. “How come you don’t love him?”
“Oh, I do love Harry, but as a friend. Because, there’s just something about you, Ron. It’s no one, single thing “ it’s just you. What would you say if I asked you why you love me?”
“I love the way you always do what you believe in, and that you always do what’s right,” Ron said, slowly. “And I love the way you believe in me.” Hermione was grinning.
“Harry does all those things for you, too,” she said, smirking. “Do you love Harry too?”
“Hermione, I am not gay!” Ron yelled, at the exact point when the music stopped. Everyone in the room turned to stare. Hermione began to giggle.
“Er, not that I’ve got anything against people who are gay,” Ron hastened to explain to the room. “She just got a bit, er, confused, and…” Hermione, still giggling hysterically, pulled him away out of the limelight, until everyone had turned back to dancing.
“Thanks a lot,” Ron said mulishly. Hermione waited for her giggles to subside, before continuing on with their conversation, and amused smile still dancing around her lips.
“Look, what I was trying to say to you up there was that I feel differently for you than I do for Alex,” she told him. Ron stared at her, wondering which way this conversation would go. At that moment, the music stopped again, and everyone turned to look at Harry and Ginny, who were standing at the front looking very pleased. Ginny looked positively glowing.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Harry called. “Thanks to you all for coming, we hope you’re enjoying yourselves. Now, following on from my friend Mr Ronald Weasley’s announcement just now,” Harry grinned wickedly as Ron buried his face in his hands, “we would like to make our announcement. Ginny?”
“We’re going to have a baby!” Ginny cried, delightedly, throwing her arms in the air, which was suddenly filled once more with loud cheers. Hermione and Ron forgot their conversation as they went to congratulate their friends.
“It’s great news!” Hermione shrieked, hugging Ginny wildly.
“Yeah, it’s good to know there’ll be some redheaded Potters running around,” Ron grinned, shaking Harry’s hand.
“Yes and, er, good to know you’re not gay,” Harry replied, laughing. Ron hit him, but not too hard.
“Well, have you told him yet?” Ginny asked Hermione quietly.
“Not yet, I’m waiting for things to die down. I don’t want him to make a scene,” Hermione whispered back.
“Hermione, how can he not make a scene? I still can’t believe you’re going to do this, I mean, all his dreams will be-“
“Nice one, Ginny!” Ron beamed, giving his little sister a hug. “Hermione, can we finish our conversation?”
“Er, sure,” Hermione said weakly, and they returned to their table.
“So, you were saying that you feel differently for me than for Alex?” Ron prompted her. Hermione sighed, knowing that this was it.
“I’ve made my decision, Ron,” she said, finally.
“And?”
“And I’m going to call off the wedding.”