Just my imagination

Hermione walked with her two best friends in silence. The sun felt good on her face and she was content with her life. She saw the glances that Ron and Harry had been giving each other and fought the urge to giggle. Obviously something was up but she would give them a chance to tell her on their own. She was in too good of a mood to let the whisperings of the boys bring her down.

“Um… Hermione?” Ron said tentatively. She turned back to him. She had kept walking and he and Harry had stopped. To her complete astonishment, he knelt in the grass and pulled out a box.

“I know we haven’t been together that long but I love you more than anything. Will you marry me?” he said smoothly and a voice in the back of her head wondered how long he had practiced that.

She stared at him in disbelief for a moment, glancing at Harry who was grinning like mad. She opened her mouth several times to give an answer, some of them would not have been polite and closed it again. Finally she nodded. He stood up and swept her into his arms, swinging her around and whooping with joy. Hermione clung to him, laughing.

When he put her down, Harry grabbed her for a hug.

“So how long have you two been planning this?” she asked dryly and they both laughed. Ron slipped the ring onto her finger and Hermione looked at it. It was a beautiful engagement ring with a modest diamond.

“Ron has wanted to marry you since fourth year but only got the nerve recently to ask. I helped him pick out the ring and decide how to ask.” Harry admitted and Ron flushed an even brighter red.

They continued their walk, Hermione holding hands with Ron, looking content while inside her mind a battle raged. Part of her, the biggest part, was ecstatic about the proposal and spending the rest of her life with Ron. She loved him a lot and thought they could be happy.

But another part of her, a smaller part that she kept locked up deep inside howled with rage and anguish. There was someone else she thought about late at night. She wondered how it would be to be with someone who was her intellectual equal, who she could debate with and actually have conversations that did not include Quidditch.

She never put a name to the tall dark haired man of her dreams. To do so would be a betrayal to herself and her friends but she knew who he was. She watched him when she had a chance, wondering what it would be like to be with him. She wondered if he would be different towards her in private than he was in public. She wondered if he would be affectionate towards her or indifferent like he was now.

Sometimes in the dark of the night, she would imagine their life together, a little house in the country with a potions lab, of course, just someplace they could call home. She imagined coming home from her classes at the University and finding him waiting for her, ready to have someone to listen to him complain about the latest dunderheads in his class and listening while she told him about her latest school project.

She imagined them making dinner together (he had to be a wonderful cook, she thought because wasn’t cooking just a different variation of potion making?) and eating together. She imagined them spending the evening together curled up on the sofa discussing different things. And then they would go to bed. That was where her mind always stopped her. Thinking of him in bed with her was an overload of her senses and she always defeated the urges to fantasize about that.

It didn’t stop the dreams though. The feel of his long fingered hands on her skin, his silky voice in her ear whispering and his hard body pressed against hers. She always woke up sweaty and needing something that wasn’t there. She wondered what-

“Earth to Hermione! What are you thinking about?” Harry said finally getting her attention. She realized he must have called her name several times. She also hadn’t noticed that Ron had walked away. She gave Harry a questioning look and he laughed.

“I reminded him that he had to find Ginny for practice. I may have let is slip that she is with Blaise Zabini…” Harry said with a smirk.

Hermione laughed and shook her head. Ron’s protectiveness of his sister was legendary, especially against the Slytherins. It had become a game to some people to mention his sister was with a Slytherin and then bet on which sibling would win the fight. Most people betted on Ginny but Ron had won about half of them as well.

“So who did you set this up with today? Does Blaise know he is in the line of fire?” she asked with a smile.

“Malfoy actually and yes, he said Blaise was well aware of what was going to happen. According to Malfoy, Blaise said that Ginny was worth whatever Ron happened to throw at him. I wonder if he will think that is true when he finds out I taught Ron some new hexes from that book.” Harry said and Hermione laughed, shaking her head.

“So Ginny and Blaise, huh? I can’t blame her. He is a handsome specimen.” She said, knowing full well that Ginny and Blaise had been in a relationship for the last seven months, since the beginning of the school year. It was a very well kept secret.

Harry shrugged. “He is handsome and he doesn’t talk much. I guess they could have something going.”

Hermione shook her head and wondered briefly at the cluelessness of some boys. “Let’s go find the show.” She said. “You know I have money on Ginny.”

They turned and walked back to the castle. For some reason, Hermione glanced up and saw a familiar figure in one of the windows staring down at them. In just a moment he was gone and she wondered how long he had been watching them. She shook her head mentally and silenced the voice in the back of her head. It didn’t matter, she was going to marry Ron and be happy.

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So it’s no longer a one shot and it will have more to it just give me time to figure out what I want to happen. Although if you have any ideas let me know! My email is starlight_stalker@yahoo.com