Signum Vitalis (a dramione story)

The Aftermath

"Oh, I forgot about the time difference."

"Forgot? Harry, how does something like an entire ocean slip your mind?"

"Ginny left for a brunch with some of her girl friends so I wanted to take advantage."

"Why can't you talk about this with Ginny? Is something wrong?"

"No, no. Well, to a degree. Hermione..."

"Stop dragging it out and just say it!"

"Iwanttomarryginnybuti'mnotsureifshe'llsayyes."

"Okay, slower, Harry. Only half my brain cells are working."

"I want to ask Ginny to marry me."

"Congratulations. Why are you telling me before her?"

"Because of what happened with you and Ron."

"What about Ron and me?"

"Well, I know you basically turned him down."

"I did it before he popped the question! He's smart enough to catch on to very blatant comments that showed I wasn't interested."

"Blatant?" Harry's voice went up a pitch. "Hermione, you know I don't get girls enough..."

"Don't worry, Harry," Hermione comforted. "It will be easy when you are looking for it. Have you talked about anything related to getting married? Can you remember her response?"

"Uh... she didn't seem very interested when Mrs. Weasley was talking about baby clothes..."

"Having children right now and marrying you are two different subjects."

"Well... I mentioned my parent's house in Godric's Hollow as our future home?"

"And her response?"

"Erm... she said it needed some cleaning up but it had a nice structure or something?"

"That's positive."

"It is? But she said it was dirty."

"Harry, she didn't shoot the idea down, so it's positive. Drop a couple more hints about your future together. Observe her responses. Does it sound like she is willing to work with you or if she is trying to shoot it down. Call me next week- at a reasonable time- and I'll try to help you decipher it."

"You are brilliant, Hermione. How did you ever figure this stuff out?"

"Having two roommates who perfected this 'art' of communication helped me learn how to translate," Hermione said dryly. "Goodnight, Harry."

"Hermione-"

"Is it another emergency? It's still five o'clock in the bloody morning and I've had under four hours of sleep!"

"Really? But didn't you always go to bed-"

"Good night, Harry!" Hermione repeated, her irritation mounting.

"Er, sorry." Harry said quickly. "Good night, Hermione!"

Hermione hung up the phone when a loud 'clack' then stumbled back down the hall and into bed.

Between classes their study group had a way of naturally gravitating towards each other. So, after their first class, Daryn and John were at her desk talking before she had even finished packing things up.

"So, how was mushroom collecting?" John asked with a smile as he leaned on her desk.

Hermione looked up with a frown. "Mushrooms?"